Centre restricts laptop, PC and tablet imports; calls for license

Source: The post is based on the article “Centre restricts laptop, PC and tablet imports; calls for license”  published in The Hindu on 5th August 2023. 

What is the News?

The Government of India has imposed restrictions on imports of laptops, all-in-one personal computers and tablets.

The restrictions have been imposed under HSN Code 8471 on seven categories of electronic gadgets.

What does the HSN Code 8471 say?

The Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN) code is a classification system used to identify products for taxation purposes.

HSN code 8471 is used to identify devices that are designed to perform data processing tasks.

What are the exemptions provided under this order?

People who travel abroad can bring along one laptop, tablet, all-in-one personal computer, or ultra-small form factor computer in their baggage without import restrictions when returning to India. The exemption applies to items bought from e-commerce platforms and shipped via post or courier.

An exemption is also provided for up to 20 items per shipment, particularly for research, testing, evaluation, repair, re-export, and product development. The imports are permitted under the condition that they are used solely for their stated purposes and not sold.

Why has the government imposed these restrictions?

Strengthen local manufacturing: With the curbing imports of these devices, the government aims to reduce reliance on foreign markets and encourage the growth of local manufacturing capabilities.

To boost PLI Scheme: This move will give a direct boost to the Center’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware. 

Reduce Reliance on China: The highest share of imports is in the category of personal computers including laptops, and palmtops, under which imports from China stood at $558.36 million in April-May this year as against $618.26 million in the year-ago period.China accounts for roughly 70-80 per cent of the share of India’s imports of personal computers, laptops.

What is its potential impact?

This announcement is expected to impact companies that import bulk of their products from outside India. Tech giants like Apple will have to either start manufacturing their laptops in India or stop importing their gadgets to India.