Draft Rules on Indian Standard Time (IST) Published

In a bid to boost national efficiency and ensure consistency, the Government of India has introduced the draft Legal Metrology (Indian Standard Time) Rules, 2025, under the One Nation, One Time initiative. Released by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution through its Legal Metrology Division, these proposed rules aim to establish a comprehensive legal framework for defining, implementing, and standardizing Indian Standard Time (IST) across the country, ensuring uniformity and synchronization in timekeeping practices nationwide.

The move aims at ensuring precise timekeeping in sensitive as well as strategic infrastructure such as telecommunications, banking, defense, and other emerging technologies. Collaborations have also been forged to develop a reliable time generation and dissemination mechanism.

A Blueprint for Time Synchronization

The draft rules mandate the use of IST, set at 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL) will serve as the official custodian of IST, tasked with its upkeep and ensuring its traceability to UTC.

IST is proposed as the official time standard for all legal, administrative, commercial, and financial activities across India. This initiative seeks to eliminate timekeeping discrepancies and enhance coordination throughout the country.

Furthermore, the rules establish the definition of a second as the base unit of time, aligning it with the internationally accepted cesium-133 atomic clock standard.

The draft specifies standard formats for time as follows: for time only, it will be represented as HH:MM:SS, and for both date and time, the format will be DD-MM-YYYY-HH:MM:SS.

The rules categorically state that all government offices and public institutions are mandated to display IST on their timekeeping devices. Synchronization will be achieved using technologies like Network Time Protocol (NTP) or Precision Time Protocol (PTP).

While IST will serve as the official time reference, other time zones may also be displayed for informational purposes, as long as they are shown alongside IST and clearly labeled.

The draft permits authorized deviations from IST only for specific purposes, such as scientific research, astronomy, and navigation, with prior approval required and compliance with government directives.

Emphasizing Cybersecurity and Resilience

Acknowledging the increasing dependence on digital systems for time synchronization, the rules mandate cybersecurity measures to protect these systems from threats like jamming, spoofing, and cyberattacks, as well as the use of terrestrial-based time distribution systems and NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) signals as backup to maintain accuracy and reliability during disruptions.

The proposed rules establish stringent compliance mechanisms and periodic audits to ensure adherence to IST standards, with detailed synchronization accuracy standards and reporting procedures to be provided in future advisories. Violators will face penalties, including fines or other actions, as determined by authorized officials under the Legal Metrology Act.

This initiative signals a major step towards modernization and effective governance, ensuring that the country operates on a more precise, unified framework. Stakeholders are invited to provide their feedback by February 14, 2025.