India's plan to limit laptop and tablet imports | Fusion - WeRIndia

India is preparing to limit imports of laptops, tablets, and personal computers after January 2025. This move will encourage companies like Apple to increase domestic manufacturing.

This initiative could significantly impact the $8-10 billion IT hardware market, which is heavily dependent on imports, primarily from China.

The Indian government has been pushing for increased local production, particularly in the electronics sector, as part of its broader economic strategy.

While a similar plan was proposed last year, it was withdrawn following opposition from companies and lobbying by the United States.

However, officials believe the industry has now had sufficient time to adapt, and new import restrictions may soon be enforced.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is working on a new import authorization system. With this, the companies need to obtain prior approvals before importing these devices.

Currently, importers are only required to register their imports online, but this system will soon expire, and fresh approvals will be needed.

The Indian market for IT hardware, including laptops, is valued at around $20 billion, with two-thirds of the demand currently being met by imports. The government’s move aims to reduce dependency on imports and boost domestic manufacturing.

Companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung dominate the market, and the new policy could reshape the dynamics by incentivizing local production.

One significant step under consideration is the introduction of minimum quality standards, which would help eliminate low-quality imports.

While global treaties prevent India from imposing tariffs on these products, the government is exploring alternative policy options to limit imports.

This move could benefit contract manufacturers like Dixon Technologies, which has agreements with global companies to produce laptops in India. Dixon aims to meet 15% of the country’s laptop demand through domestic production.

India’s production incentive schemes, worth over $2 billion, have already attracted global players such as Acer, Dell, and HP to begin local manufacturing.

With cyber security concerns growing, India has emphasized the importance of sourcing electronics and communication devices from trusted sources.

Overall, the new import restrictions are likely to boost domestic manufacturing. However, the government will need to balance the restrictions with India’s current production capacity carefully.

Image from Pxhere (Free for commercial use / CC0 Public Domain)

Image Published on March 04, 2017

Image Reference: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/971631