The tumblers were selling well. They were big insulated steel tumblers from a home and kitchen brand we work with. They came in three sizes: 450 ml, 900 ml and 1,200 ml.
Amazon had been asking our client for its BIS documents since 2025. In April 2026, Amazon blocked the listings.
The tumblers hadn’t changed. They still had no BIS certification, and Amazon had stopped waiting for it.
The rule was older than the block
Insulated steel bottles and flasks have needed BIS certification since 2024. The order that covers them is the Insulated Flask, Bottles and Containers for Domestic Use (Quality Control) Order.
Most manufacturers have had to follow it since June 2024. Small manufacturers have had to follow it since September 2024, and micro manufacturers since December 2024.
The order names two standards that matter here. IS 17526 covers vacuum-insulated steel flasks and bottles. IS 17790 covers the ones with foam or another insulating material between the walls.
This order means you need the ISI mark on each bottle, under a BIS licence.
Our client wasn’t the only seller Amazon was asking. In January 2026, another seller wrote on Amazon’s forum about a tumbler. Amazon had flagged it under its rules for hot flasks and bottles.
That was 48 hours after the seller listed it. The documents were due by March.
By June, an Amazon staff member gave a clear answer on the same thread. Insulated tumblers fall under Amazon’s listing compliance policy, so they need BIS.
No law names tumblers, but Amazon treats insulated ones as hot flasks and bottles. That’s what counts when Amazon decides whether your listing stays up.
Plain steel utensils have their own BIS order too. It started in stages, between October 2025 and April 2026.
Two sales, then Amazon asked for the certificate
Amazon caught the power banks much faster. An electronics brand we work with had shipped them to Amazon’s warehouses without BIS registration.
At first, nothing stopped them. Then the first one or two units sold, and Amazon asked for the BIS certificate.
Power banks have needed BIS registration since 2015. They fall under a different scheme from the tumblers: the Compulsory Registration Scheme, or CRS. CRS covers most electronics.
Under CRS, BIS doesn’t inspect the factory. A lab recognised by BIS tests the product. Then the manufacturer registers it and gets a registration number, called an R-number.
In our experience, registration isn’t quick. BIS’s own target is 20 working days once your application is in, but the lab test comes first.
After you raise a test request, you have 60 days to get a sample to the lab. Once the lab’s report is out, you have up to 90 days to apply. So if Amazon asks for the certificate before you’ve started, you’re already late.
A BIS registration lists every model number it covers. Amazon checks your listing against it.
Amazon’s own policy says you must use the registration’s model number and brand on your listing. That shows the product on the certificate is the product on your listing.
If your listing’s model number isn’t the one you gave BIS, Amazon won’t accept the certificate. That’s true even for an identical product. Many sellers loosely call this model number the SKU.
Our rule now is to give BIS exactly the model number that’s on your listing. Or fix the listing before you apply.
You may not need to register each colour separately. Our client did, for its power banks.
Under BIS’s newest guidance for power banks, versions that differ only in colour can share a series. The series needs only one test.
But every model number you sell has to be on the registration. So if your white and black versions have different model numbers, both must be on it.
Amazon asks for images that show the product you sell is the product the lab tested. Make sure they show the BIS mark, the R-number, the model number and the manufacturer’s details.
In our experience, Amazon compares the product images in your BIS documents with the images on your listing.
If you sell under your own brand, you need the registration in your brand’s name. On its forum, Amazon’s staff have said the manufacturer’s certificate plus an authorisation letter isn’t enough. They said this about white-label chargers and power banks.
Two routes, one owner: the manufacturer
For online sellers, BIS usually means one of two routes: an ISI licence or a CRS registration.
An ISI licence comes under Scheme-I, and it’s the route for the tumblers. BIS inspects the factory, and the product gets tested. The licence number is CM/L followed by digits.
A CRS registration comes under Scheme-II, and it’s the route for the power banks. CRS also covers LED lamps, adaptors, smart watches, wireless earphones and Bluetooth speakers.
Toys, pressure cookers, helmets and footwear have their own orders too. In October 2025, BIS counted 773 products that needed certification, under 191 orders.
Either way, the licence or registration belongs to the manufacturer, not the importer or the seller. It’s tied to one factory, one brand and a list of model numbers.
If you import, the overseas manufacturer holds it. For an ISI licence, that means BIS’s foreign manufacturers’ scheme, which takes about six months on average.
For CRS, the overseas manufacturer registers with an authorised Indian representative. That’s often the brand owner in India. And customs now checks CRS R-numbers before it clears goods.
The fees are rarely the hard part. Under the 2026 rules, a CRS registration has a processing fee of ₹25,000 each year. There are also small application and licence fees.
Micro and small manufacturers get big discounts on these fees until May 2029. Adding models costs ₹30,000 an application. All these fees are plus GST.
How Amazon checks
Amazon’s position is that following the rules is your job. Since 30 September 2024, you can’t list a flagged product at all until Amazon approves its BIS documents. You have to submit them first.
For listings that were already live, Amazon sends a compliance request for each product, with a due date. You’ll find it in Account Health, under product policy compliance.
If you miss the due date, Amazon can block the listing. You can lose your selling privileges too.
If your stock is in Amazon’s warehouse when Amazon blocks the listing, it’s stranded. It stays there, and you can’t sell it.
Amazon then sends a stranded-inventory email. If the stock stays stranded, Amazon removes it 30 days later.
If Amazon blocked a listing in a safety review, sending the BIS documents afterwards doesn’t guarantee it comes back.
The government is behind this. In March 2025, it announced BIS raids on Amazon and Flipkart warehouses.
At a Flipkart warehouse, BIS seized 534 uncertified vacuum-insulated steel bottles. The government also said notices had gone to Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, Myntra and BigBasket.
In February 2026, the government answered a question in the Lok Sabha. It said BIS had searched 22 e-commerce warehouses since 2024-25. Of those, 14 were Amazon’s, 7 were Flipkart’s and one was Blinkit’s.
Under the law behind these searches, you could face up to two years in prison, or a fine. The fine starts at ₹2 lakh and can reach ten times the value of the goods.
New this year: home appliances
A new order now covers many electrical appliances for homes and shops. The list includes vacuum cleaners, cooking ranges, hobs, ovens and indoor call bells.
The order’s full name is the Safety of Household, Commercial and Similar Electrical Appliances (Quality Control) Order, 2026. The standard it uses is IS 302 (Part 1):2024.
You now need the ISI mark on these appliances, under a BIS licence. That’s the same route as the tumblers. If your appliance already falls under another order, that order applies instead.
The order started on 1 October 2026 for large and medium manufacturers. Small manufacturers have until 1 January 2027. Micro manufacturers have until 1 April 2027.
If a small manufacturer makes your appliances, your deadline is 1 January. Ask your manufacturer now whether they’ve applied, and which model numbers the licence will list.
Before you list, or import
- Find out whether your product needs BIS, and which kind: an ISI licence or a CRS registration.
- Check the manufacturer’s ISI licence or CRS R-number yourself, in BIS’s free BIS Care app.
- Make sure the licence or registration names your brand and every model number you’ll sell. Add new models to it before they ship, not after.
- Put the same model number and brand on your listing, exactly as they appear on the certificate.
- Mark the product and the pack. For an ISI licence, that’s the ISI mark with its CM/L number. For a CRS registration, it’s the Standard Mark with the IS number, the R-number and www.bis.gov.in.
- Make sure your listing images show the mark and the licence number or R-number. Add the model number and the manufacturer’s details too.
- If you import, make sure the overseas manufacturer has the licence or registration before the goods leave the factory. Customs checks it too.
BIS is one line on our shipment checklist. It’s the one line you can’t fix with a sticker at the warehouse.
Where we come in
No agency can get you BIS. A lab recognised by BIS has to test the product. Then BIS grants the licence or registration to the manufacturer.
Anyone who promises you a shortcut is selling you something other than BIS.
But we can be on your side when Amazon sends a compliance request. We’ve been through these requests before.
We’ve seen listings blocked and stock stranded. So we know what usually goes wrong. It’s a model number that doesn’t quite match the listing, or a colour that’s missing from the registration.
When we manage your account, we check your listings against your certificate before Amazon does. And when a compliance request comes, we work through it with you. (To get a brand onto Amazon properly, start with our guide to selling your brand on Amazon India.)
Ask yourself two questions before your first sale, not after Amazon asks. Does this product need BIS? And does the certificate say exactly what my listing says?
