The government imposed import restrictions on laptops and computers in August (representative)
New Delhi:
According to sources, the government is likely to introduce a simple import licensing procedure and no licensing procedure for incoming shipments of laptops, tablets and computers from November 1. However, they said the Commerce Ministry is waiting for a final word on the matter from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The government imposed import restrictions on laptops and computers (including tablet computers) in August with the aim of boosting domestic production and reducing imports from countries such as China.
According to the notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the restrictions will come into effect from November 1.
While the IT hardware product industry falls under MeitY, the DGFT notifies decisions regarding the import/export of a product.
Following this report, the IT hardware industry has raised concerns.
“It will be more in the nature of an import management system where people get an authorization. It will be a very soft license. It will just be an authorization,” one of the sources said, adding that everything will be online.
A company can apply for the import of certain numbers and then receive a license for the import.
According to the source, the DGFT may also have to clarify its earlier notification (dated August 3) that laid down a licensing regime for the import of these goods.
The decision issued in August had established the licensing requirements with immediate effect, and later amendments were made and a transition period until October 31 was introduced.
The restrictions also apply to microcomputers, large computers or mainframe computers and certain data processing machines.
India already has an import monitoring system for certain products such as steel, coal and paper.
The licensing conditions for imports were imposed for safety reasons and to encourage domestic production of these products.
In announcing the licensing rules, the government also said it wants IT products to come from “reliable sources”.
According to a report by think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), India is highly dependent on China for daily use and industrial products such as mobile phones, laptops, components, solar cell modules and ICs.
The government has taken several steps to boost domestic production of electronic items, such as rolling out the production-linked incentive scheme and increasing customs duties on the number of electronic components.
Leading electronic brands sold in the market include HCL, Samsung, Dell, LG Electronics, Acer, Apple, Lenovo and HP.
India imports approximately $7 to $8 billion worth of these goods annually.
The country has imported personal computers, including laptops, worth $5.33 billion in 2022-2023, up from $7.37 billion in 2021-2022.
Imports of certain data processing machines amounted to $553 million in the last financial year, compared to $583.8 million in 2021-2022.
Similarly, imports of microcomputers/processors during the last fiscal stood at USD 1.2 million as against USD 2.08 million in 2021-22.
In May, the government approved the Production Linked Incentive Scheme 2.0 for IT hardware with a budgetary outlay of Rs 17,000 crore.
The government in February 2021 approved the IT hardware plan, which covers production of laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs and servers with an outlay of Rs 7,350 crore.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
