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Major foreign players in Indian market in the laptops, computers segment are – Dell, Acer, Samsung, Panasonic, Apple, Lenovo and HP.
New Delhi: The central government on Thursday restricted imports of laptops, tablets, and personal computers under HSN 8471 with immediate effect, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notice. The notice stated, “Import of Laptops, Tablets, All-in-one Personal Computers, and Ultra small form factor Computers and Servers falling under HSN 8741 shall be ‘Restricted’ and their import would be allowed against a valid Licence for Restricted Imports.”
According to the notice shared by the government, these products can now only be imported if a valid license for restricted imports is obtained. “Their import would be allowed against a valid licence for restricted imports,” the notice said.
While the import of these items will be permitted against a licence, certain use cases have been exempted from the restrictions. These include the import of one laptop, tablet, personal computer, or ultra-small form factor computer through online portals, couriers, or post. The restrictions are also not applicable to imports under baggage rules, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notification.
In the notification, around 20 of these items have been exempted from an import licence per consignment for purposes like research and development, testing, benchmarking and evaluation, repair and re-export and for product development.
Imports under baggage rules
Imports under baggage rules also don’t fall under these restrictions, the DGFT notification said. Every passenger who enters or leaves India has to clear some Custom checks, which are also referred as baggage rules.
“Exemption from import licence is provided for up to 20 such items per consignment for the purpose of R&D (research and development), testing, benchmarking and evaluation, repair and re-export, and product development purposes.”
“Given imports shall be allowed subject to the condition that the imported goods shall be used for the stated purposes only and will not be sold. Further, after the intended purpose, the products would either be destroyed beyond use or re-exported,” said the notification.
The items that are being re-imported after being repaired abroad, licence for Restricted Imports of such goods will not be needed, the government clarified.
‘Make in India’ push
According to Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, the new policy announcement is a step in the right direction, as it seeks to restrict certain electronics imports and enforce licenses for restricted items, and thereby fostering Make in India. “The PLI Scheme 2.0 for IT Hardware is expected to enhance the hardware manufacturing ecosystem,” he told IANS.
The new policy change came as the government earlier this week extended the window for receiving applications under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme 2.0 for IT Hardware till August 30. As a consequence of this policy change, the costs associated with importing laptops, personal computers, and tablets are expected to experience a significant decline.
Big blow for foreign companies
Major foreign players in Indian market in the laptops, computers segment are – Dell, Acer, Samsung, Panasonic, Apple, Lenovo and HP. In the last quarter (April-June), electronics imports, which included these three items, amounted to $19.7 billion, marking a 6.25 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
India’s electronics imports, which include laptops, tablets and personal computers, stood at $19.7 billion in the April to June period, up 6.25% year-on-year., according to a report in Reuters.
Laptops, tablets and personal computers account for about 1.5% of India’s total annual imports, with nearly half of those from China, according to government data.
Many of Apple’s iPads and Dell’s laptops are imported into the country, rather than being manufactured locally. The intent seems to be “substitution of certain goods that are imported heavily”, said Emkay Global economist Madhavi Arora.
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