If non-compliant goods fail to meet BIS standards or labeling requirements, they will be returned or destroyed at the importer’s expense or scrapped by government agencies.
To stabilize the current challenges in India’s electronics industry, the union cabinet has extended the ongoing approval system for importing specific IT products, such as tablets and laptops, until December 31, 2024. Companies that import a large amount of products from abroad will be able to apply for the license until the year ends. The concerned authorities will review the deadline provided on September 30.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is of the opinion that importers who have legal licenses until September 30 will be able to apply for import authorizations until December end. The new authorization or the license agreement will be applicable from January 2025, with complete guidelines and compliance to be provided by the government soon.
The nation’s overall import value of IT hardware products in FY 2023-24 is USD 8.4 billion. The bulk of imports are from mainland China; interestingly, the number is lower than the authorized import value of USD 9.5 billion for the same time frame. On August 3 2023, the union cabinet imposed restrictions on importing laptops, tablets, personal computers, and servers, citing domestic industry growth and national security concerns.
Until the end of September, importers can apply for numerous authorizations. Scores of import applications have been approved by the government in November 2023 from Apple, Dell, and Lenovo for IT hardware products worth nearly USD 10 billion. It turned out to be the beginning of the new import regulations that apply to laptops, personal computers, large computers, and data processing machines. The import authorization system helped reduce imports of laptops and computers to USD 5.33 billion in 2022-23 from USD 7.37 billion in 2021-22.
