Underwriters Laboratories unveils new water testing laboratory in Bangalore

Company Brief

New Delhi, March 23, 2011

Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a world leader in advancing safety, announced the opening of its first facility dedicated to water testing and certification outside the United States. Located in Bangalore, India, it allows UL to offer a full portfolio of globally-recognized and trusted services to a key emerging market that is devoted to addressing sustainable water issues. UL becomes the country's first and only third-party certification provider with a facility dedicated solely to water

UL is staffing the new laboratory with local experts who have a robust knowledge of the Indian water market and are experienced with local and international water standards and requirements. Through this lab UL will further benefit Indian water product manufacturers looking to enter global markets by having access to international water industry standards from a global leader in safety.

Mr. Venkitachalam, Vice President & Managing Director, UL Emerging Markets stated, "With India facing significant water challenges, it is necessary to look at the safety of water as it is directly linked to health, sanitation and social stability. The addition of this laboratory to UL's portfolio of services is a key strategic platform for our growth in this market."

India is one of the fastest emerging economies today. It is a known fact that the country is dealing with longstanding sustainable water issues as economic growth outpaces the development of infrastructure needed to support a population of over 1 billion. There is a need to address the issue of clean drinking water without which businesses wouldn't function properly and residents are always prone to health issues. UL testing can help detect contaminants in drinking water and make sure water treatment technologies meet important safety and quality standards.

The new facility is equipped to conduct a wide variety of chemical and microbiological testing using state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation from leading manufacturers. In addition to providing commercial drinking water analytical services, the laboratory will also support the certification of drinking water treatment chemicals to ANSI/NSF 60 and drinking water components to ANSI/NSF 61.

"India is a strong, emerging market with critical water quality issues that UL has studied and tested for years," said Jeff Smith, general manager, UL Global Water Business. "By expanding our network of testing locations, we are committed to driving solutions for safer water around the globe."

In 2009, UL first launched its drinking water product certification program in India to serve the market locally with its extensive industry and analytical knowledge. Since then, it has established relationships with a significant number of companies on a broad range of products and services and expects this group will grow dramatically in the coming years.

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LinOpinion - The Lintas Public Relations Division

Nupur Bhardwaj

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Email: nupur.bhardwaj@loweworldwide.com