The government is reportedly looking at other import products on which such limitations could be imposed, such as cameras, printers, hard discs, and parts of telephonic and telegraphic devices, after making a licence obligatory for the import of personal computers and laptops.
According to them, there is a sizable local demand for these goods, and since they are heavily imported, there needs to be an immediate intervention to encourage home manufacture. In FY23, these imports totaled about $10.08 billion.
Separately, it’s also been reported that the government is looking at other high-import goods like urea, antibiotics, turbo-jets, lithium-ion accumulators, refined copper, machines and mechanical appliances, solar and photovoltaic cells, aluminium waste, sunflower seed oil, and cashew nuts. India’s overall merchandise increased 16.5% to $714 billion in FY23, increasing the current account deficit to 2% of GDP from 1.2% of GDP in FY22.
The government is also keeping an eye on shipments of the 250 items exempt from taxes in India under the Information Technology Agreement-1, or ITA-1. An official stated, “The focus is on those end products in the ITA-1 whose bulk imports are a cause for concern.” Integrated circuits, computers, telecom equipment, semiconductors, semiconductor fabrication, amplifiers and testing equipment, software, and scientific instruments are only a few of the high-tech products covered by the ITA-1 category.
Also read, New Law on Digital Competition Likely to Regulate Big Tech.
Other Import Products also under investigation:
“Since chips and displays are the most expensive things, we must promote their production. Another industry is medical devices, according to an official.
A local manufacturing option for hard drives, scanners, keyboards, and printers is also being investigated.
India announced last week that starting on November 1, importing permits will be required for servers, laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, and ultra-small form factor PCs. In the most recent fiscal year, computers, laptops, and tablets totaled $5.3 billion, while exports of Wi-Fi dongles, smart card readers, and Android TV boxes came to $2.6 billion.
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