BIS Certification for Hexagon Head Bolts & Screws (Grades A & B)

This certification applies to two closely related precision fasteners: hexagon head bolts and hexagon head screws made to the higher-precision Product Grades A and B. The everyday shorthand is useful here - a bolt is generally designed to be used with a nut, while a screw is threaded to engage directly into a tapped hole - but for BIS purposes both are notified products and both need the ISI Mark before they can be sold or imported into India.

The word "grade" trips people up, so it is worth being precise: Grade A and Grade B describe how tightly the fastener is made - its dimensional tolerance class - not how strong it is. Grade A is the tighter, more precise class typically used for standard sizes; Grade B has slightly wider tolerances and is common on larger or longer bolts. Strength is a separate matter, expressed by the property class, which we explain below. The governing Indian Standard for this family is aligned with the corresponding international ISO standards for hexagon head bolts and screws, so a manufacturer already building to ISO is usually most of the way there.

Knowing exactly where your product sits within the standard saves time and money at the testing stage. Here is the practical scope for this family:

Because Grade A and B fasteners are made to closer tolerances than the general-purpose Grade C family, they are chosen wherever fit, alignment and repeatability matter as much as clamping force:

A BIS-recognised laboratory checks samples against two broad families of requirement - geometry and mechanical performance - and BIS continues periodic surveillance testing for as long as the licence stays active:

The order carves out four specific exemptions. You may fall outside the requirement if you are: manufacturing purely for export; supplying fasteners that are imported only as a part or component of a larger finished good or sub-assembly; a domestic maker importing to build products that are then exported; or a Udyam-registered micro unit whose plant & machinery investment (at original cost) does not exceed twenty-five lakh rupees and whose turnover did not exceed two crore rupees in the previous financial year, certified by a Chartered Accountant. These are narrow - crossing any threshold or selling one batch into the Indian market brings you back into scope.

BIS expects documentation in three broad groups. Getting the format right is the single biggest cause of delay for first-time applicants, which is exactly the part we take off your plate:

• Administrative: company registration, factory licence, trademark proof, and - for foreign makers - the Authorized Indian Representative appointment.
• Technical: product drawings and specification, raw-material details, list of manufacturing machinery, in-house test equipment list, and the recognised-lab test report.
• Quality control: the quality manual, details of competent QC personnel, and the process/quality control flow for the product.

The route depends on where your factory is. Indian manufacturers follow the domestic Scheme-I process - the full step-by-step is on our BIS Certification for Indian Manufacturers page. Manufacturers based outside India go through FMCS with an Authorized Indian Representative, covered on our FMCS guide.

Once the licence is granted, BIS issues a unique licence number (the CM/L number). The ISI Mark together with that CM/L number must be applied to the product and its packaging in the manner the standard prescribes - it is what lets a buyer, an inspector or a tender authority verify the certificate is genuine. Selling a notified fastener that carries no mark, or a mark without a valid licence behind it, is treated as non-compliance.

The Bureau of Indian Standards is the certifying and enforcing authority for this product, and non-compliance is dealt with under the BIS Act, 2016:

• Seizure of stock from the factory, warehouse or distribution chain.
• Customs detention of imported consignments that arrive without a valid licence and marking.
• Fines and imprisonment as provided under the BIS Act, 2016, for manufacturing, importing or selling without certification.
• Loss of tenders and contracts, since government, infrastructure and serious private buyers require the ISI Mark as a precondition.

Fasteners are a deceptively broad category - 19 notified products, overlapping standards, easy-to-miss exemptions and a demanding factory assessment. We work across the entire order as fastener specialists, not a general firm dabbling, and prepare every document to exact BIS format so your file keeps moving - for manufacturers in India and around the world.