The import of laptops, personal computers, and tablets has been banned in the country. The central government has taken this decision to increase local manufacturing. This can have a big impact on the import of laptops and personal computers from China. The import of electronics in the country during April to June was approximately $19.7 billion. This included laptops, personal computers and tablets. In this regard, it has been said in the notice issued by the government on Thursday, “Import will be allowed on valid license for limited import.” The share of electronics in the country’s total merchandise imports is 7 to 10 percent. Ali Akhtar Jafri, former director general of MAIT, an organization associated with the electronics industry, said, “The objective of this decision is to increase manufacturing in the country.” Through production-linked incentives, the government is trying to increase local manufacturing in more than two dozen sectors including electronics. The government has extended the deadline to apply for a $2 billion manufacturing incentive scheme to attract large investments in IT hardware manufacturing, including laptops, personal computers, tablets and servers. This scheme is important to make the country a major force in the global electronics supply chain. The government aims to increase the annual production of electronics to $300 billion by 2026. Big companies selling laptops in the country include Apple, Dell, Lenovo and HP, Acer, Samsung and LG. A large number of laptops are imported from countries like China. Madhavi Arora, economist at Emkay Global, said the decision appears to be aimed at curbing large-scale imports of certain goods. The share of laptops, personal computers and tablets in the country’s total imports is about 1.5 percent. About half of these are purchased from China. The government had earlier increased tariffs on products like mobile phones to promote local manufacturing. Global PC shipments declined nearly 30 percent in the first quarter. There was a strong increase in demand for companies like HP, Lenovo and Dell during Corona. The main reason for this was the increase in sales of laptops and other electronic devices due to the staff of many companies working from home. Sales of devices like laptops have declined due to most companies calling workers back to office.
