Prior to licensing regulations taking effect on November 1st, India’s imports of IT hardware/equipment increased by as much as 50% in August from July. According to manufacturers and a top system integrator that purchases from distributors and producers and provides to businesses, companies advanced procurements because of concern for a supply shortage.
Last month, the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) added servers, laptops, and other IT hardware to the restricted list, requiring a permit. The notification, which was approved on August 3, was changed the next day, delaying implementation until November 1 to give the sector three months to reassess. However, the ruling has raised concerns about supply interruptions and price hikes if the restrictions take effect.
Due to increased requests from business clients and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who want to ensure enough stocks over the holiday season and for corporate purposes, August imports hit 1.2 million units, up from 800,000 in July, a specialist said. The import surge was estimated by an industry organization to be 20–30%.
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September to Witness Another Increase in IT Hardware Imports:
Given that most shipments take four to six weeks to arrive in India, both predict that September will see an increase.
Additionally, businesses are hesitant to purchase gadgets built by Chinese companies out of concern that the government would prohibit their usage in the future, according to an executive at a major provider of IT hardware. China’s Huawei and ZTE are essentially prohibited from taking part in India’s 5G deployment in the telecom industry.
Tejas Bagadia is the director of Team Computers, a system integrator with over 2,500 enterprise clients. “Lots of global companies that have their shared services here — Amazon, Walmart, Meta, Google –have reached out to us, and preponed their buying plans,” he added. They had intended to purchase extra over the months of October and November, but they have already begun to do so early in anticipation of a scarcity once the notification takes effect.
According to a senior executive at a leading global IT hardware company and an industry organization, many businesses have started holding year-round inventories with systems integrator businesses like Team Computers so they can buy them as and when necessary.
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