New Delhi, June 11: In India where colour television market is estimated at about 7.5 million units annually, no manufacturer has even cared to get an ISI or Ecomark, according to an analysis done by 'Voice'- a voluntary organisation which works in the interest of consumer education. "Over the years, market research has shown that very few manufacturers bother to get an ISI mark for their brand if the mark is not mandatory for the product category. The product category of colour TVs is no different from ceiling fans, refrigerators, or even tooth pastes, where we have repeatedly noticed absence of an ISI mark," says Roopa Vajpayee of Voice.
However, Suresh Khanna, secretary general of Consumer Electronics & TV Manufacturers Association (CETMA) says "in free market economy the consumer is getting state-of-art technology and with tremendous competition amongst TV manufacturing companies the consumer is the most benefitted."
"Television sets of most of the popular brands are providing better quality than that recommended by ISI, so consumers should not worry about the quality," he says.
The comparative testing done by voice on 12 brands was aimed at informing consumers of the best buys in terms of overall performance, quality and price.
All televisions bought for analysis were of the 21inch size. However, the survey found a particular brand was a 20-inch television but was labelled as 21-inch.
Bureau Report