India will not impose licensing requirements on the import of laptops and computers and will only monitor their incoming shipments, a senior government official said.
The remarks are significant as the government announced in August that these products, including laptops, tablets and computers, would be included in the licensing system from November 1.
“For laptops, we don’t think there is such a restriction. We are just saying that people who import these laptops must be closely monitored so that we can inspect these imports.
“This is basically surveillance that we are doing. It has nothing to do with restrictions per se,” Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal told reporters here.
Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi further explained that there will be an import management system which will come into effect from November 1.
Work is underway and he hopes to have it in place by October 30, he said.
Although the IT hardware products industry comes under the jurisdiction of MeitY, the DGFT is responsible for notifying decisions on import and export of products.
Following this notification, the IT hardware industry raised concerns.
“It will be more like the nature of the import management system where people will be authorized. It will be a very soft license. It will just be an authorization,” one of the sources said, adding that everything would be done online. .
Companies will be able to make requests to import certain quantities and will receive authorization to import.
Sources said the DGFT may also require clarification on its previous notification, dated August 3, which provided for the import licensing regime for these goods.
An order issued in August set out the licensing requirements with immediate effect, but was later revised and provided for a transition period until October 31.
These restrictions also apply to microcomputers, mainframe or mainframe computers, and certain data processing machines.
India already has an import monitoring system for certain products such as steel, coal and paper.
Import licensing conditions are imposed for safety reasons and to stimulate domestic manufacturing of these products.
While announcing the licensing rules, the government also said it wants IT products to come from “trusted sources.”
According to a report by think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), India is heavily dependent on China for daily use and industrial products such as mobile phones, laptops, components, solar modules and integrated circuits.
The government has taken several measures to promote domestic electronics manufacturing, such as introducing production-linked incentive schemes and increasing customs duties on electronic components.
Leading electronics brands sold in the market include HCL, Samsung, Dell, LG Electronics, Acer, Apple, Lenovo, and HP.
India imports about $7-8 billion (nearly Rs. 58,300 crore – Rs. 66,630 crore) worth of these commodities every year.
The country imported PCs, including laptops, worth $5.33 billion (nearly Rs. 44,390 crore) in 2022-23, compared with $7.37 billion (nearly Rs. 61,380 crore) in 2021-22.
Imports of certain data processing machines were valued at $553 million (nearly Rs. 4,600 crore) in the last financial year, compared with $583.8 million (nearly Rs. 4,860 crore) in 2021-22.
Similarly, imports of microcomputers/processors were valued at $1.2 million (nearly Rs. 170 million) in the last financial year, compared to $2.08 million (nearly Rs. 170 million) in 2021-22.
In May, the government approved the IT Hardware Production Linked Incentive Scheme 2.0 with a budget outlay of Rs. 170 billion rupees.
The government approved the IT hardware plan in February 2021, covering the production of laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs and servers at a cost of Rs. 7,350 Crores.
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