The Consumer Affairs Ministry is planning to develop machine-readable, SMART standards using artificial intelligence tools to reduce compliance burden on industry, according to a senior official. As reported by Business Standard, Consumer Affairs Secretary Nidhi Khare announced this initiative at a FICCI-organised event on Thursday, emphasizing the government's commitment to leveraging emerging technologies for regulatory modernization. 'We also understand that the emerging technologies which are coming up in a big way, especially the AI, it may be creating a lot of disruption, and it could be creating more challenges. But we need to understand how to use it to our advantage,' Khare stated, highlighting the government's proactive approach to technological integration.
Machine-readable standards translate regulatory requirements into structured digital rules that computer systems can process directly, enabling automatic compliance verification without manual intervention. According to the latest reports, SMART (Standard Machine Accessible, Readable and Transferable) formats go a step further by being dynamic, constantly updated and integrated into software and manufacturing lifecycles. This technology represents a significant shift from traditional compliance methods to automated, technology-driven verification systems that can adapt to evolving regulatory requirements. The initiative addresses the critical need for contextual intelligence - the integration of five dimensions of context: semantic meaning, relational connections, temporal history, behavioral patterns, and operational constraints - to enable accurate AI reasoning and reduce compliance costs.
Secretary Khare positioned India at a 'transformative moment' in its economic journey, with quality being central to achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. As reported by Business Standard, she emphasized that 'quality is not just a pathway to development, it is also a destination in itself'. The government is promoting private sector testing infrastructure to support industrial expansion while maintaining consumer trust, with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) evolving from a regulator to a facilitator. This quality-focused approach aligns with the broader need for contextual intelligence to reduce false positive rates and improve regulatory compliance effectiveness across multiple sectors.
The secretary called on industry to actively participate in standards formulation and highlighted that the government is in the process of replacing obsolete testing methods with quicker and more accurate processes. According to the latest reports, the government recognizes that emerging technologies, particularly AI, may create disruption but needs to be used to advantage. This approach represents a proactive strategy to integrate technological advancement with regulatory compliance requirements while maintaining industry collaboration in standards development. The initiative addresses the critical need for contextual intelligence to reduce compliance costs and improve regulatory effectiveness across various sectors.
