FMTTI vs ARAI vs ICAT vs BIS Explained

Four names, four jobs

We get asked this constantly: "do I need FMTTI, or is ARAI/ICAT fine, or is a BIS mark enough?" The honest answer is that these four bodies don't compete with each other — each one does a specific job, and most machines need more than one of them at different points.

Here's how we explain it to manufacturers:

FMTTI: the testing institute network

FMTTI isn't one building — it's four institutes under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare: CFMTTI at Budni (Madhya Pradesh), with regional institutes covering the North (Hisar), South (Garladinne) and North-East (Biswanath Chariali). CFMTTI Budni carries the national mandate for tractor type-approval and homologation; the regional institutes handle their own territories plus the wider spread of implements, threshers, sprayers, transplanters and more. This is where the actual physical test — running hours, field trials, drawbar performance, noise, braking and so on — happens, and it's always FMTTI's own engineers conducting it.

ARAI and ICAT: the emission-cycle specialists

ARAI and ICAT sit in the same CMVR Rule 126 framework as notified testing agencies, and in practice they're most often brought in for emission-cycle testing under standards like AIS-137, or for aspects of type-approval covered under AIS-017 Part 2. If your machine's compliance need is specifically about engine emissions rather than field/endurance performance, ARAI or ICAT may be the relevant route rather than FMTTI. They're not a substitute for FMTTI's performance and type-approval testing — they cover a different slice of the same overall compliance picture.

BIS: the standard, not the test

BIS writes the standards — the IS codes that define what a category of machine should look like, how it should perform, and what's safe. The farm machinery side is split across three sectional committees: FAD 11 covers tractors and power tillers (63 published standards), FAD 20 covers farm implements and machinery generally (53 published standards), and FAD 21 covers the broadest sweep — soil working, sowing, crop protection, harvesting, threshing, transport, horticulture and powered lawn/garden equipment (148 published standards). That's 264 standards across the three committees. FAD 21 also maintains liaison with ISO/TC 23, the international agricultural machinery committee, so Indian standards stay connected to the wider international picture.

What BIS does not do is run the physical performance or endurance test on your machine — that's FMTTI's job. A BIS-aligned specification and an FMTTI test report work together: the standard tells you what "good" looks like, and the FMTTI test report is the evidence your machine meets it.

One honest caveat worth passing on: the published FAD 11/20/21 lists we've reviewed show their most recent entries dated 2012, with most published well before 2000. That's simply the age of the published list as posted — always confirm the current status and reaffirmation year of any specific IS code directly with BIS before you rely on it for a tender or subsidy filing.

Why this matters when you're planning a test

If your machine needs scheme eligibility (SMAM, RKVY, PKVY, CHC) or has to satisfy a tender, FMTTI's test report is usually the document you'll be asked for — BIS conformity and, where relevant, ARAI/ICAT emission certification sit alongside it, not instead of it. Getting the sequencing right at the start — which standard applies, which agency tests which part, and which institute handles your category — is exactly where we help manufacturers and dealers. We guide, coordinate and liaise with FMTTI on your behalf throughout the application and documentation process; the physical testing itself is always carried out by FMTTI's own engineers at the government institute.