The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has announced 12 new Indian standards covering vital areas: cyber security, digital infrastructure, wind energy systems and homeopathic remedies. These standards are intended to replace several outdated specifications by April 2026. This comprehensive update addresses outdated regulations and brings India in line with international standards.
The most significant updates are in the area of cyber security and digital infrastructure. BIS has adopted revised international standards to address the growing threat landscape targeting industrial systems, utilities, IoT networks and data-intensive applications.
Industries that will be directly affected include energy companies, telecommunications and data infrastructures, cybersecurity solution providers, IoT device manufacturers, and process-critical industries. Big companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Cisco and Tech Mahindra, among others, will have to update their compliance mechanisms.
At the Udyog Samagam 2025 on 11 November, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal reiterated the Union government’s push for stricter quality enforcement and emphasized the importance of high-quality products to consumers.
Wind energy
In parallel, BIS announced new standards for wind energy systems, including guidelines for measuring the electrical characteristics of wind farms and protocols for marking and lighting turbines. Major players including Suzlon, Siemens Energy and Vestas will be affected.
A key change is the requirement to test the electrical behavior of the entire wind farm, not just individual turbines, as mandated by previous standards. The new standard introduces detailed procedures to increase the reliability and compliance of network integration.
It also adds clear rules for marking and lighting of wind turbines for aviation and safety purposes, defining the location of lighting, visibility requirements and marking standards for towers and blades to meet updated international safety requirements.
A senior government official explained the necessity: “The new standard has been introduced as India’s wind sector has shifted to large wind farms, where testing individual turbines is no longer sufficient to ensure safe and stable grid performance.”
As wind penetration increases, grid operators now need accurate data on how the entire wind farm behaves during voltage dips, frequency changes and other disturbances, the official said.
Wind sector experts support the update. M.P Rameshformer CEO of the National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), said: “Standards are constantly evolving. With an expanding grid network and newer problems and issues, the same standards cannot be expected to continue.” The required change in standards would have to be implemented.
Sneh Shah, Managing Director, Aimtron Electronics, confirmed the industry sentiment: “For manufacturers like Aimtron, the latest IS/ISO/IEC cybersecurity standards help shape the way we design and protect our components, PCB assemblies and connected systems.” Controls such as secure firmware, hardware-level identity, OT network segmentation, and virtualized network protection have long been part of our engineering discipline. He noted that the updated standards reinforce these practices and strengthen the security backbone of India’s growing IoT and embedded electronics landscape.
“The introduction of more stringent global standards such as IEC 61400-21-2 for plant-level electrical verification and IEC/TS 61400-29 for mandatory lighting for aviation represents a major maturity step for the wind sector. For India, this international convergence is a double-edged sword,” said Saurabh Agarwal, Partner, EY India.
“On the one hand, adopting these rigorous processes will require significant investment and retraining of our manufacturers and designers, which may lead to complex upfront costs, while on the other hand, a globally certified, higher quality product – backed by transparent electrical performance data and essential safety features such as aerial lighting – will boost investor confidence, reduce technical risks and unlock global market access for Indian wind technology,” said Agarwal.
The quality of homeopathy
The notification also includes three new standards for homeopathic medicines, which relate to methods of preparation of mother tinctures and specifications of raw materials such as Holarrhena antidysenterica and milk sugar.
These updated standards of homeopathy bring uniform guidance to areas where none existed. A new method of preparing mother tinctures – the liquid extracts that form the basis of all homeopathic medicines – now specifies the precise process of percolation. Previously, manufacturers used different methods, which led to variations in quality. Clear requirements for cleanliness and safety were established for commonly used raw materials, replacing loose and informal practices.
