Guides
What an MTC is, and when a tender needs it
A mill test certificate, MTC, is the paper one TMT mill issues for one cast of steel, and BIS's own certification scheme for IS 1786 ties it to that cast alone, never to a whole order. It names the cast or heat number, carries the full chemical analysis and the mechanical test results that cast produced, and it has to travel with the consignment the cast became.
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Jay Shree Infra sells TMT bar across the counter in Saharsa and out into Supaul and Madhepura, in SAIL, Tata Tiscon, Shyam Steel and more, and a certificate is one of the papers that comes with a load whenever the size and the buyer call for it. Not every diameter is in every brand on a given day, and not every size carries the certificate as a legal duty either, only 8 mm and above. Below that a mill may still issue one, and it is worth asking for.
BIS's own record for IS 1786:2008 lists four amendments since the standard was first issued, and the certification scheme that produces the MTC, current as its July 2020 product manual, is what actually spells out what the paper carries and when it has to travel with the load. That scheme, not a tender clerk's memory of one, is the source for every field on the table below.
The paper itself
What one certificate has to carry
Six things BIS's own scheme for IS 1786 puts on a test certificate, and what to read each one against.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| On the certificate | What it gives | Check it against |
|---|---|---|
| Order number and cast or heat number | Which purchase order the certificate belongs to, and the specific melt of steel the bar came from | The cast number rolled or tagged on the bundle in front of you |
| Nominal size and quantity | The diameter, and how many tonnes of that cast the certificate covers | The size and weight on the challan or weighbridge slip |
| Chemical analysis | Carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, their sum, and carbon equivalent, each in percent | IS 1786's own limits for the grade ordered |
| Mechanical properties | 0.2 percent proof stress or yield, tensile strength, the tensile to yield ratio, elongation and total elongation at maximum force | The minimum figures IS 1786 sets for that grade |
| Bend and re-bend test | Pass or fail against the standard's own mandrel test | A plain pass; a failed bend does not conform whatever the chemistry shows |
| Standard Mark and licence number | The BIS Scheme-I licence, CM/L, the mill's certificate rests on | The six digit identification number rolled onto the bar itself |
This is BIS's own format, set out at Annex 1 of the product manual for IS 1786:2008, PM/IS 1786/4/July 2020. A mill fills in its own name, address and Standard Mark at the top of the form, then completes the table for the one cast the certificate covers.
Read the certificate against the bundle, not on its own. Two numbers have to agree, the cast or heat number on the paper and the same number rolled or tagged on the bar, and a certificate proves nothing for a delivery it cannot be matched to.
Kamdhenu Limited, in its own guidance on identifying genuine bar, puts it plainly: each batch should carry a test certificate from the manufacturer, and that certificate lists yield stress, elongation and heat numbers, three of the fields BIS's own format carries in full.
One cast, one certificate
Why a single order can carry more than one MTC
BIS's own scheme calls a cast or lot of a single grade and size a control unit, and the certificate belongs to that unit, not to whatever a buyer happens to order in one call. A load built from two casts, or a large order split across two vehicles, carries two certificates, one for each, and neither stands in for the other.
The certificate is generated only once a cast has already been tested, chemistry and mechanical properties both, so it never arrives ahead of the steel. It travels with the consignment the cast became, in paper or as a scan, and it is worth keeping in the buyer's own file once the load is delivered, since it is the one document that ties a bar back to the melt it came from.
When it is asked for
Why a tender line names the certificate
A tender or a government works order that names IS 1786 as its specification is naming the same certification scheme set out above, and its own quality clause usually asks for the certificate as proof, cast matched to delivery, before a bill is passed. That sits alongside a longer checklist of papers a tender line can ask for, the GST bill and the weighbridge slip among them, and the certificate is only one line of it.
An individual home builder rarely needs to ask. A department, a contractor working a public tender, or a site engineer assembling a quality file for a bigger job is the buyer who asks for it by name, cast by cast rather than once for the whole order.
At this counter
How a certificate travels with an order here
Say at the time of booking whether the certificate needs to travel with the vehicle or can follow after, because a split order across two despatches means two certificates and two timings to plan around. The diameters and grades we keep on the TMT bar (sariya) rack are on its own page, and our first pick for most house work is SAIL TMT, whose certificate we can show against the cast standing on the floor that morning.
Ask before the vehicle is booked and not after it has left. A certificate read out over the phone once the load has gone is harder to match to the right bundle than one checked while the vehicle is still standing at the godown.
One document, not the last word
What the certificate proves, and what stays the engineer's call
A certificate says the delivered cast met IS 1786 for the size and the grade it names, tested and passed. It says nothing about whether that grade is the right one for your column or your slab, and that question belongs to the structural drawing, never to the paper in hand.
A missing certificate below 8 mm is not by itself a fault, since the Quality Control Order that compels both the mark and the paper excludes bar and wire under that size. Ask what a bundle at that size is actually carrying rather than assuming either way.
Sources
BIS's own certification scheme, and one maker on what it hands the buyer
Two Bureau of Indian Standards documents behind the certificate itself, and one manufacturer's own page on collecting it.
- BIS Product Manual for IS 1786:2008, PM/IS 1786/4/July 2020, Annex C on the test certificate requirement and the control unit, and Annex 1 with the certificate format itselfBureau of Indian Standards
- The BIS record for IS 1786:2008 and its four amendmentsBureau of Indian Standards
- Kamdhenu Limited on identifying genuine TMT bars on site, with what a test certificate should showKamdhenu Limited
Questions
MTC ke sawal
MTC aur ISI mark me kya farak hai?
The mark is rolled onto the bar itself, at intervals of not more than 3 metres, and it names the brand, the grade and a six digit licence number. The MTC is a separate paper for one cast, and it carries the full test results the mark alone cannot show, chemistry and mechanical properties both. A genuine bundle usually carries both, and the two should name the same licence number.
MTC kis cast ya lot ke liye chalta hai?
One cast or lot of a single size and grade, which BIS's own scheme calls a control unit, and the certificate belongs to that unit alone. An order built from two casts carries two certificates, and one cannot stand in for the other.
Ek ghar banane wale ko bhi MTC maangna chahiye?
Nothing stops an individual home builder from asking, and it costs nothing to ask, though most tenders and department orders are where it gets asked for by name. Above 8 mm the certificate is the law's own word regardless of who the buyer is; below that a mill may still issue one on request.
Bundle par MTC sahi hai ya nahi, kaise dekhein?
Match the cast or heat number printed on the certificate to the number rolled or tagged on the bundle. If the two do not agree, the paper in hand belongs to a different delivery and proves nothing about the steel standing in front of you.
Ek MTC dusre order ke liye dobara kaam aayegi?
No, because it belongs to the cast it was issued for and not to the buyer. A fresh order, even of the same size and grade from the same mill, is very likely a different cast and needs its own certificate matched to it.
Before you order
What settles which certificate reaches you
Each one settles something the checklist above cannot.
What size and grade is the order?
8 mm and above is where the mark and the certificate are the law's own word. Below that a mill may still issue one, and it is worth asking.
Will the order travel in one vehicle or split across trips?
Each despatch can carry a different cast, and each cast needs its own certificate.
Does the certificate need to travel with the vehicle, or can it follow later?
Say it at booking. Matching a certificate to a bundle is harder once the load has already left.
Does the tender's quality clause name IS 1786 by number?
Then the certificate is part of the documentation the file needs, not just good practice on the mill's part.
Contact
Ask for the certificate when you book, not after
Say the size, the grade and whether the order is going in one vehicle or several, and we will say which cast is standing on the floor and what its certificate carries. Ring +91 6202 967 218 before the vehicle is loaded, and the certificate that leaves here will match the cast on the bundle.
Shop hours: All 7 days, 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM