NEW DELHI, Dec. 29 -- The Centre has begun opening up India's legal metrology ecosystem to private participation, authorizing private laboratories to verify and certify weighing and measuring instruments to reduce delays and ease compliance for businesses.

The Department of Consumer Affairs has awarded 12 government-approved test centre (GATC) certificates to 11 private entities, marking a shift towards a structured public-private partnership model in the verification of weights and measures, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. The move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push to widen private participation across sectors.

"The objective of bringing in private testing laboratories is to make verification and certification mor...