New shoe sizing system proposed for Indians: What is ‘Bha’ and the need for it?

Subject: Economy

Sec: Msc

Context:

A pan-India survey on the feet sizes of Indians was recently carried out as part of a larger project for developing an Indian sizing system for footwear.

More on news:

Proposed to be named ‘Bha’ (भ ) to represent Bharat, it could form the basis for manufacturing footwear in India.
Upon its implementation, Bha will replace the existing UK/European and the US sizing systems.
Many Indians were found to be wearing extra-long, ill-fitted and tight footwear.
In the case of high-heeled women’s footwear, wearing a bigger size was both inconvenient and a cause for potential injuries.

What did the survey find?

Initially, the hypothesis was that at least five footwear sizing systems would be required for Indians to be inclusive of various ethnicities.
Prior to the survey, it was thought that people from northeast India, on average, had smaller feet sizes compared to the rest of India.
A survey was conducted between December 2021 and March 2022, covering 1,01,880 people across 79 locations in five geographical zones.
3D foot scanning machines were deployed for understanding the size, dimensions and structure of an average Indian foot.
It found that the growth of the foot size of an average Indian woman peaked at the age of 11 years whereas that of an Indian man peaked at about 15 or 16 years.
Indians’ feet were found to be wider than that of Europeans or Americans.
Due to the narrow footwear available under the UK/European/US sizing systems, Indians have been wearing footwear which are a size bigger than required.

Why was the need for an Indian shoe sizing system felt?

The British introduced UK sizes in India before Indian independence.
According to it, an average Indian woman wears footwear sizes between 4 and 6, and the average man between 5 and 11.
With an Indian user now owning an average of 1.5 footwears each and India being the world’s most populated country, it is one of the world’s biggest markets and manufacturers of shoes.

What are the survey’s recommendations?

Bha proposes eight footwear sizes:
- I – infants (0 to 1 year),
- II – babies (1 to 3 years),
- III – small children (4 to 6 years),
- IV – children (7 to 11 years),
- V – girls (12 to 13 years),
- VI – boys (12 to 14 years),
- VII – Women (14 years and above) and
- VIII – Men (15 years and above).
The biggest advantage of adopting Bha would be that footwear manufacturers would need to develop only eight sizes as against the present 10 sizes (English system) and seven sizes (European system).
In addition, half-sizes would not be needed.

What is the current status of Bha?

The Chennai-based Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Central Leather Research Institute (CSIR–CLRI) conducted the survey.
It submitted its recommendations to the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which comes under the Union Ministry of Commerce.
The DPIIT has forwarded them to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which is the Indian authority to implement this sizing system, for approval.