China and Japan has formally raised concerns about India’s laptop import monitoring system in a statement published by WTO.
Last week, the WTO Committee on Import Licensing (CIL) met to discuss ways to improve the transparency of WTO import licensing guidelines for its members and countries who use their notification portal that was launched in October 2023. Three trade concerns involving India were addressed in the meeting. China and Japan had formally questioned India’s measures on PCs, tablets, and electronics imports. On the other hand, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Thailand were concerned about the monitoring system of VSFs and pneumatic tyres.
Earlier, due to constant questioning from the US, China, and South Korea that the policy seemed inconsistent with the WTO guidelines and created trade barriers, India had already reversed its laptop licensing scheme in March 2024.
India’s laptop import licensing program has garnered scrutiny since August last year. Nations such as the US have consistently questioned this program, with United States Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai addressing the issue during the G20 Summit in India. In December 2023, India responded by stating that the primary aim of this policy was administrative, intending to uphold public morals, ensure national security, and deter deceptive practices within the supply chain. India clarified that there were no intentions to expand the program.
Currently, IT products including laptops and PCs come into India with zero duty. India cannot increase the duty on these goods as per the Information Technology Agreement of 1997 at the WTO. Limiting Laptop imports will be a consequential step as the production-linked incentive (PLI) is slow for IT hardware goods at present in India, despite the changes that were made last year in the budget to clear 27 manufacturers including Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo.
Amid the concerns, currently there are no import restrictions on laptops in the country. Since India is a large market for laptops, countries that are working to boost their domestic IT hardware industries keep on raising concerns to ensure smooth import and export.
