Union Commerce Ministry has made registration of 135 imported consumer items mandatory with the Bureau of Indian Standard.

Announcing this, Director General of Foreign Trade L Mansingh said the attempt was aimed at ensuring quality of imported goods. He said the government also wanted the domestic manufacturers to maintain quality.

Mansingh, while addressing an interactive session under the aegis of Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said DGFT started interaction with state governments as well as exporters to make them aware of their role in exports.

"Exporters generally think that the onus of boosting exports lies on the Union government. This is not correct. This mindset has to be changed," he said.

Opposing the general notion that India should adopt the Chinese model, he said the country would have its own strategy to thrive in the World export market. "Chinese model has no relevance in India. We are 15-20 years behind China," he added.

The interactive session was attended by Prabir Sengupta, former Union commerce secretary, Alok Ray, professor of economics at Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, M S Shridhar, executive director of Export-Import Bank of India, Kisholoy Pathak, economist at Standard Chartered Bank, and S Nandwani, joint DGFT, Kolkata.