Why has India restricted imports of laptops and computers?

The Centre has restricted the imports of laptops, tablets and personal computers.The notice issued by the ministry of commerce stated that imports would be allowed against a valid licence."Import of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, and ultra small form factor computers and servers falling under HSN 8741 shall be 'restricted' and their import would be allowed against a valid licence for restricted imports,” the notification read.But what do we know about this move? And why is India doing so?Let’s take a closer look :What we knowAccording to Hindustan Times, imports under baggage rules will remain exempt.

So, if you’re buying a laptop from abroad while travelling you need not worry.

A laptop, a tablet, an all-in-one personal computer, or an ultra-small form factor computer purchased from a website through post or courier will also be exempt from the import licencing rules.However, such imports will attract duty as applicable.As per Moneycontrol, an exemption has also been granted for research and development purposes.Up to 20 such items per consignment can be imported for R&D, testing, benchmarking and evaluation, repair and re-export and for product development.“Given imports shall be allowed subject to the condition that the imported goods shall be used for the stated purposes only and will not be sold. Further, after the intended purpose, the products would either be destroyed beyond use or re-exported," the notification added.The import of such items is also allowed when it is an ‘essential part’ of a capital good.[caption id="attachment_12248462" align="alignnone" width="600"]

Representational image. Reuters[/caption]Such electronic items repaired abroad will also be exempt from an import licence, as per HT Tech.Why is India doing soExperts say this is to give a boost to Make in India."The move's spirit is to push manufacturing to India. It's not a nudge, it's a push," Ali Akhtar Jafri, former director general at electronics industry body Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology, told Reuters.Tech Crunch quoted Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of Indian Cellular and Electronics Association, as saying, “This policy announcement seems to be based on the premise of providing secure digital access to the burgeoning number of digital citizens in the country.  We are confident that valid licenses will be provided to trusted industry partners which will enable Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and unrestricted access to trusted brands for digital consumers.”Economic Times quoted Navkendar Singh, associate vice president, IDC India as saying the move is likely to boost local manufacturing.“However, our ecosystem isn’t ready yet for an assembly of this magnitude. Vendors ship in close to 2 million notebooks every quarter with around 3/4th out of this imported. Also, the almost entire volume of premium notebooks are imported,” Singh said.

He added that the timing also was an issue due to the PC market struggling for the past few quarters.

Madhavi Arora, economist, Emkay Global, said the aim seems to be to import substitution of certain goods that are imported heavily.Electronic goods are India’s second-largest imports.In April-June, electronics imports, which include laptops, tablets and personal computers, was $19.7 billion. That’s an increase of 6.25 per cent year over year.Dell, Acer, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Apple Inc, Lenovo and HP Inc are some of the key companies selling laptops in the Indian market.But a substantial portion of these are imported from countries like China.As per Tech Crunch, Dell and HP already have manufacturing plants in India.But companies that do not have local plants might now have to consider setting them up, as per India Today.Tech Crunch quoted data from Hong Kong-based market research firm Counterpoint as saying that around 30 to 35 per cent of laptops and 30 per cent of tablets sent to India during the first half of 2023 were manufactured locally.

India’s electronic good exports shot up by 47.1 per cent in April-June to $6.96 billion.

Hindustan Times quoted data from the National Import-Export for Yearly Analysis of Trade (NIRYAT) as showing that Tamil Nadu is the top exporter of electronic goods for the financial year 2022-2023.The figure, at $5.37 billion, was massively up from $1.86 billion in the previous financial year.The import restrictions also come as India’s merchandise trade deficit exceeded $20 billion in both May and June, as per Moneycontrol.India's merchandise imports shrunk by 12.7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022-23.With inputs from agencies