March 2025

The Fisheries Minister of Maharashtra, Nitesh Rane, has launched a certification platform, MalharCertification.com, to ensure that the preparation and sale of meat is “according to Hindu religious traditions”.

The platform encourages consumers to buy meat only from certified vendors, guaranteeing fresh and contamination-free meat sourced from vendors belonging to the Hindu Khatik community.

As of now, Halal certification is issued by a private limited company, Halal India Pvt Ltd, and the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind Halal Trust.

Producers of goods have to pay as much as Rs 60,000 for Halal certification per product. So, a multinational corporation with a dozen consumer products would have to pay over Rs 7 lakh just for a private Muslim trust’s certification,

It is neither mandated by the government nor part of any official certification process like AGMARK, BIS, or the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Established in 1919 by the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the Halal Trust India claims to be globally renowned as one of the “most influential, reliable, and popular organisations in India”.

It purports to be a leading Halal certification body, with a “distinct and patented Halal logo” that’s widely recognised around the world.

It boasts of providing Halal certification to Halal-compliant restaurants, hotels, hospitals, processed food manufacturing units, slaughterhouses, and so on.

Not just this, it also issues certificates for products like lipstick, tulsi water, biscuits, and water bottles, to ensure that animal fat, bones, or any other prohibited components have not been used in their manufacturing.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in response to the Union government’s allegations that it earns lakhs of crores, the trust claimed that its annual collection is around a mere Rs 2.1 crore, of which Rs 59.2 lakh is paid as tax.

there are several other private entities issuing Halal certificates for a fee. These certificates are supposed to verify that a product complies with Islamic dietary laws and is permissible for human consumption. It is doubtful whether these certifying agencies employ qualified, scientifically trained personnel who are capable of guaranteeing the quality and hygiene of products that are consumed by millions.

The FSSAI serves as the primary body responsible for certifying food products, and mandates that all food businesses operating in India obtain its license or registration.

In addition, AGMARK, regulated by the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection under the Ministry of Agriculture, ensures that agricultural products like cereals, pulses, vegetable oils, and honey conform to specific quality standards.

Manufacturers of specific food products, including complementary foods, milk powder, and packaged drinking water, are required to obtain a license from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which ensures production standards for the industry.

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system, further, identifies and controls hazards in the food production process, while ISO certification sets out the requirements for food safety management systems.

in April 2023, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued guidelines for the export of “halal certified” meat and meat-related products, stipulating that they must be produced, processed, and packaged in a facility with a valid certificate issued by a body accredited by the Quality Council of India.

To streamline halal certification, the government also developed the India Conformity Assessment Scheme (i-CAS) and directed existing bodies to seek accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB).

In November 2023, the Uttar Pradesh government deemed halal certification a “parallel system”—arguing that it was completely against the basic intention of the Food Safety and Standards Act—and imposed a state-wide ban on the “production, storing, distribution and sale of halal certified edible items”.

But what began as a certificate to regulate the way an animal is slaughtered and meat is obtained has evolved into a multi-crore industry that “permits” the production and sale of almost every consumer product. It has become a brand-building technique to tap a huge export market of Halal consumers worldwide. The Halal trade is estimated to be worth $80 billion, or 12 percent of the total agri-food trade. Thus, a Halal certificate automatically provides a competitive advantage over a product without such a certificate or logo.

The government should seriously consider if this constitutes an offence under the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act (MRTP), now replaced by the Competition Act in 2002, which prohibits unfair trade practices and seeks to protect consumers and businesses from anti-competitive practices.