The Government of India on August 4 deferred the implementation of the import restriction order on laptops, computers and tablets by about three months, till October 31. The move now gives more time to electronic companies to import these devices without a licence.
On August 3, the Centre put the import of these devices under a licence regime with immediate effect, leading to complaints from industry on the notification. With the latest order, the companies now would need to take a licence from the government to import these devices from November 1.
In its order, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) added that a “liberal transitional arrangement is provided for import of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, ultra-small form factor computers and servers … till October 31, 2023.”
The Centre had imposed the restrictions for security reasons and to promote domestic manufacturing. It will curtail in-bound shipments of these goods from countries like China and Korea. It will also allow the government to keep a close watch on the locations from where the products are coming.
The decision will also spur domestic manufacturing. Under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI 2.0) IT hardware scheme, 44 companies have already been registered and two companies have filed their applications on the scheme portal by July 31. The companies can submit applications till August 30.
