The country’s commerce authority announced late on Friday that India will offer a transition period of roughly three months before a new licencing scheme for imports of laptops, tablets, and personal computers takes effect. This is a partial overturn of the Thursday surprise decision to enforce the licensing requirement with immediate effect, which had led to requests for a postponement. The government stated in a notification that “Import consignments can be cleared without a license until 31 October and a government permit would be required for clearance of import from 1 November.”
An industry plea to postpone the new import license order by three to six months was under review, a government official earlier in the day told Reuters. The government did not provide a justification for the measure, which might have an impact on tech giants like Apple, Dell, and Samsung and possibly encourage them to increase domestic manufacturing. According to a different government official, the action was taken to alleviate the trade deficit with China.
According to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, deputy minister of information technology and electronics, the action was taken to “ensure trusted hardware and systems” and lessen reliance on imports. His ministry had earlier today guaranteed that the government will issue licences promptly and prevent supply gaps in the market. It had stated that New Delhi would grant business licences for the importation of laptops and tablets in less than two days. You can purchase licences online.
Companies will need to disclose details about the consignment’s origin, the quantity, and its prior import history in order to apply for the licences.
“India is one of the markets with the quickest rate of growth for digital goods, such as servers and laptops. The goal of the government is to assure reliable systems and hardware, lessen reliance on imports, and enhance domestic production of this class of goods. It involves controlling imports to guarantee trustworthy and verifiable systems and making sure that the Indian IT ecosystem only uses trustworthy and verified systems that are imported and/or domestically produced,” Chandrasekhar said in a tweet.
