India has restricted the import of laptops, tablets and personal computers with immediate effect, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in a notification issued on Thursday.
Import of these items will be allowed only after obtaining a licence. However, there is no restriction under the baggage rules, which allow importing a limited number of items from one country to another through courier or post.
In the April-June quarter, India’s electronics imports, which includes laptops, tablets and personal computers, had gone up by 6.25% on a year-on-year basis to $19.7 billion (Rs 1.63 lakh crore), reported Reuters.
A senior government official has told The Indian Express that the decision was taken to push electronics sector companies to manufacture locally in India. The move is also being seen as an attempt to restrict supplies from China.
India has also extended a deadline for companies to apply for a $2 billion (Rs 16,553 crore) incentive scheme to attract investments in IT hardware manufacturing.
The move is expected to benefit contract manufacturers such as Dixon Technologies, whose shares rose more than 7% following the news, reported Reuters. “The move’s spirit is to push manufacturing to India,” said Ali Akhtar Jafri, the former director general of electronics industry body MAIT. “It’s not a nudge, it’s a push.”
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