Standards regulator BIS seizes FirstCry products worth Rs 90 lakh

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) carried out a search and seizure operation on Monday at a Bengaluru warehouse of FirstCry parent Brainbees Solutions, confiscating goods worth Rs 90 lakh for further investigation, the company said in an exchange filing on Tuesday.

The action did not impact the company’s operations, and they continue as usual, omnichannel baby care retailer FirstCry said in its filing.

The standards regulator has alleged that FirstCry is in contravention of Section 14(6) of BIS Act, 2016 regarding a few products. The provision prohibits unauthorised establishments from assigning the Standard Mark or the ISI Mark to goods. The mark indicates a product meets the required quality standards.

“The company has taken note of the observations made by the BIS and is obtaining appropriate legal advice. Further, the company has no reasons to believe that the products seized by BIS are non-compliant of BIS Act, 2016,” the company said.

On Monday, Brainbees Solutions reported a subdued performance for the March quarter, with its consolidated net loss widening 2.5 times year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 111.5 crore, compared to Rs 43 crore in the same period last year.

The drop in bottomline came despite a 16% YoY rise in operating revenue to Rs 1,930.3 crore during the quarter. Along with revenue growth across business segments, the FirstCry parent saw consolidated expenses increase to Rs 1,914 crore, up from Rs 1,634 crore in the previous quarter.