The Government Is Planning to Extend the Current Import Authorization Regime for It Hardware Products

Nitin Konde, Apoorva Bajj

Sep 24, 2024 — 2 min read

The Government Is Planning to Extend the Current Import Authorization Regime for It Hardware Products

According to a news agency that cited an official source, the government is likely to extend the current import management system for imports of specific information technology hardware products, such as laptops and tablets, for an additional three months. The review of the deadline is scheduled to take place on September 30.

The report from the agency stated that the total amount of IT products imports in 2023-24 was $8.4 billion, although the authorization was for approximately $9.5 billion. A significant portion of these imports originated from China.

An Earlier Mandate Was Drafted to Monitor Inbound Shipments

Several electronic devices, including laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, ultra-small form factor computers, and servers, were subject to import restrictions by the government in August of 2023. Licenses or permissions from the government are required for the sale of products that are restricted. As a consequence of this, the government implemented an import management and authorization system in October of the previous year to import laptops, personal computers, and other types of information technology hardware products. Without negatively impacting the availability of goods in the market, the system is designed to monitor shipments of these products that are coming into the country.

It is permissible for importers to submit applications for numerous authorisations, and the authorizations that they successfully get will be valid until September 30, 2024. Authorizations will be granted for any number of consignments that are intended for imports up until September.

The Government Cleared Over 100 Applications Last Year

On the very first day of the new system's deployment, which was November 1, 2023, the government approved more than one hundred applications, including those submitted by Apple, Dell, and Lenovo. These companies had requested authorization to import information technology hardware products with a value of about ten billion dollars.

There is going to be a formal request for an extension of the current system, as stated in a statement that was referenced in a media report. By extending the deadline by three months, the entire year will be covered. This means that there will be no disruptions in the industry throughout the current year. To ensure that India's supply chain is reliable, the new license system applies to laptops, personal computers (including tablets), microcomputers, large or mainframe computers, and specific data processing units.

Personal computers, including laptops, were imported into the country at a value of $5.33 billion in 2022-23, which is a decrease from the $7.37 billion that were imported in 2021-22.