NEW DELHI, Aug 3: The Centre on Thursday has imposed restrictions on imports of laptops, tablets and personal computers with immediate effect in a bid to push local manufacturing, an official spokesman said.
The notification in this regard was issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
“Their import would be allowed against a valid licence for restricted imports,” the spokesman said. In April-June, electronics imports, which include laptops, tablets and personal computers, was $19.7 billion, up 6.25% year-on-year. Electronics imports range between 7% and 10% of the country’s total merchandise imports.
“The move’s spirit is to push manufacturing to India. It’s not a nudge, it’s a push,” said Ali Akhtar Jafri, former director general at electronics industry body MAIT. India has been trying to push local manufacturing by giving production-linked incentives in over two dozen sectors, including electronics.
It has extended the deadline for companies to apply for its $2 billion manufacturing incentive scheme to attract big-ticket investments in IT hardware manufacturing, which covers products like laptops, tablets, personal computers and servers.
The incentive scheme is key to India’s ambitions to become a powerhouse in the global electronics supply chain, with the country targeting annual production worth $300 billion by 2026.
Dell, Acer, Samsung, LG Electronics, Apple Inc, Lenovo and HP Inc are some of the key companies selling laptops in the Indian market and a substantial portion are imported from countries such as China. Shares of Indian electronic maker Dixon Technologies rose over 5% on the news.
The intent seems to be “import substitution of certain goods that are imported heavily,” some experts said. Laptops, tablets and personal computers compose about 1.5% of the country’s total annual imports and nearly half of those are bought from China, according to government data.
India has imposed high tariffs in the past on products like mobile phones to catalyze domestic output. Last year, it produced $38 billion worth mobile phones in the country, while local production of laptops and tablets were just $4 billion in comparison, according to estimates from industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association.
The experts said any entity or company planning to bring laptops and computers for sale in India will now have to seek permission or license from the government for their inbound shipments.
(Manas Dasgupta)
