A boy tries to use an Apple laptop at a computer store in Tokyo, Japan, May 10, 2019. REUTERS/Issei Kato
NEW DELHI, Aug 3 (Reuters) – India said on Thursday it will impose an import license requirement for laptops, tablets and personal computers with immediate effect, a move that could hit companies including Apple, Dell and Samsung hard and force them to to promote local manufacturing.
Current regulations in India allow companies to import laptops freely, but the new rule requires a special license for these products similar to restrictions India placed in 2020 on incoming TV shipments.
Industry executives said a licensing regime would mean long lead times for each new model they launch, and it would come just before the festive season in India, when sales typically pick up.
The government notice did not give any reason for the move, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been promoting local manufacturing and discouraging imports under its “Make in India” scheme.
India’s imports of electronics, which include laptops, tablets and personal computers, stood at $19.7 billion in the April-June period, up 6.25% year-on-year.
Laptops, tablets and personal computers account for about 1.5% of India’s total annual imports, with almost half of those coming from China, according to government data.
Many of Apple’s iPads and Dell laptops are imported into the country, rather than made locally.
The intention appears to be “the substitution of certain goods that are heavily imported,” said Madhavi Arora, an economist at Emkay Global.
Apple (AAPL.O)Dell (DELL.N) and Samsung (005930.KS) He did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. They, along with Acer, LG Electronics (066570.KS)lenovo (0992.HK) and HP Inc. (HPQ.N)They are some of the leading laptop vendors in the Indian market.
The move is expected to benefit contract manufacturers like Dixon Technologies. (DIXO.NS)whose shares rose more than 7% on the news.
“The spirit of the move is to bring manufacturing to India. It’s not a push, it’s a push,” said Ali Akhtar Jafri, former director general of electronics industry body MAIT.
The Indian government has extended the deadline for companies to apply for a $2 billion incentive scheme to attract big investment in IT hardware manufacturing, which covers products like laptops, tablets, personal computers and servers.
The scheme is key to India’s ambitions to become a powerhouse in the global electronics supply chain, with the country targeting $300 billion worth of annual output by 2026.
The country has imposed high tariffs in the past on products such as mobile phones to catalyze domestic production.
Additional reporting by Shivam Patel, Shivangi Singh in New Delhi and Jaspreet Kalra in Mumbai; Edited by Aditya Kalra, Sudipto Ganguly, Raju Gopalakrishnan, and Jan Harvey
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