Who is an Authorised Indian Representative (AIR)?

What is an AIR?

The Authorised Indian Representative is a mandatory appointment under the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018. When a foreign manufacturer applies for BIS certification under FMCS, BIS requires a person physically present in India who can be contacted, held responsible and worked with throughout the life of the application and the resulting licence.

The AIR accepts legal responsibility for compliance with the BIS Act, 2016, the licence conditions and all regulatory obligations arising during the licence term. The AIR’s name appears in all BIS licence documentation. In the event of a compliance failure, the AIR will also be held accountable in addition to the manufacturer.

Note: The AIR is not a filing agent or an administrative position. Manufacturers who treat the AIR nomination as a procedural formality and appoint whoever is available rather than whoever is qualified, transfer a significant portion of their certification timeline risk to an individual whose competence they have not assessed.

Eligibility conditions

The AIR must be an individual resident in India and not a company, firm or a legal entity. BIS requires that the individual hold at least a bachelor’s degree and a working knowledge of the BIS Act, 2016 and its applicable regulations and have no conflict of interest, particularly, with respect to the testing of product samples. The nomination is documented in the FMCS application.

A qualified candidate when nominated may represent only one foreign manufacturer at a time under FMCS. An individual already serving as AIR for another manufacturer cannot simultaneously serve in that capacity for a second and shall lead to disqualification upon verification by the BIS at the time of application.

If the AIR relationship ends during the licence term, the manufacturer must appoint and notify BIS of a replacement before the outgoing AIR is formally discharged. A gap in AIR coverage for a period during which no validly nominated AIR is in place can put the BIS licence at risk of suspension or cancellation.

Importance of selecting the right AIR

Every stage of the FMCS process runs through the AIR, be it the application submission, BIS query responses, factory inspection coordination, sample dispatch logistics, ongoing surveillance management, or the licence renewal. An AIR who knows BIS procedures, is familiar with which laboratories are BIS-recognised for the specific product category and has working relationships with the relevant BIS office can significantly reduce the timeline of a process that typically takes six to nine months.

Conversely, an AIR who is unfamiliar with BIS systems, submits incomplete documentation or responds slowly to BIS queries can extend the process significantly beyond that range. For manufacturers working against a QCO enforcement deadline, the AIR selection becomes an important decision with commercial consequences.

Legality and risks

BIS regulations hold the outgoing AIR liable for acts and omissions up to the point of formal discharge. This creates an incentive for a clean handover, but the manufacturer bears the ultimate risk of continuity. Where an AIR exits without a replacement in place, the licence may be suspended until the gap is resolved, blocking customs clearance for every shipment that arrives during that period.

For importers sourcing from foreign manufacturers, the AIR continuity risk is largely invisible until it becomes a port problem. Moreover, an importer has no direct visibility into their supplier’s AIR status. A supplier whose AIR has resigned, became unavailable or whose nomination is being disputed with BIS may still show an active licence on the portal until BIS acts on the gap. Pre-shipment verification on the BIS portal may confirm whether the licence is active and not whether the underlying AIR structure is stable. This residual risk is best managed contractually through a supplier obligation to notify the importer of any change in AIR status.

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