Relief with riders: Govt likely to defer import curbs on laptop, tablet, PCs till Sept 2024

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology held a meeting with the industry on September 22

In a major relief to the industry, the Indian government is likely to extend the free import of laptop, tablets and computers to September 30, 2024, sources told Moneycontrol.

For now, importers have to register their organisation and import data in an online portal called Import Management System, which the government is currently developing. Post September 30, 2024, sources said that the government will review the authorisation norms and it will then reduce the import quota of finished products in a graded manner.

The government can also consider relief on this quota on a case-to-case basis. It is also expected that the government may come out with a standard operating procedure in this regard.

The industry has been requesting the government for relaxations ever since the Union commerce ministry  on August 4 announced curbs on the import of laptops, PCs, tablets and other related items. The ministry had said that computer manufacturers will need a valid license and would have to pay a duty to import PCs, laptops, tablets and servers.

This comes after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) held consultation with representatives of the laptop, PC and tablet industry on August 22.

"We are thankful to the government of India for holding extensive stakeholder consultation and as discussed today we will wait for clarification from DGFT and written communication from the government. There are several questions which need some clarification and we are hopeful that the government will address them soon," Kumar Deep Banerjee, country manager of industry body ITI Council told Moneycontrol.

Moneycontrol has also reached out to Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology for comments on the matter.

Import Management System

According to sources, the DGFT is working on the portal 'Import Management System', and it will go live by the end of September. The portal will have three categories of imports -- mobile, IT and telecom products.

Government expects, importers to start registering their organisation data for the past three years. The entire process is proposed to be completely online.

However, if a manufacturer is importing components and making finished products in a special economic zone or in export oriented units, it would not be considered as imports, and hence will not fall under the proposed system, sources added.

What the govt said

The aim of the government in bringing in these norms is to ensure that supply chain for these products either originate in India or come from trusted sources.

Earlier on August 22, while speaking to reporters, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar reiterated the same and said, "At present, almost 80 per cent of our supplies to the digital ecosystem come from imports. We want to make sure whatever the sources are, they are trusted."

"As part of emphasising trust, it is obvious that the Indian component of that supply chain will have to grow. Today 8-10 per cent of our supply requirement comes from India, we want to make that 65-70 per cent in the next three years,” the minister said.

Printers, cameras, hard disks in line too?

Apart from laptops, PCs tablets, the government is also reportedly bringing import restrictions for printers, cameras and hard disks.

In FY23, the imports of these items crossed $10.08 billion. India’s total merchandise imports went up by 16.5 percent in FY23 to $714 billion, raising the country’s current account deficit (CAD) to 2 percent of GDP in FY23 from 1.2 percent of GDP last fiscal.