In a notification issued late night, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) gave “liberal transitional arrangements” for such imports and said that its August 3 notification on import restrictions will be effective from November 2023.
“Keeping in view global supply chain arrangements and long-term commitments of the industry stakeholders, liberal transitional arrangements are notified for these imports till October 31, 2023,” said an official.
As per the notification, import consignments can be cleared till October 31, 2023, without a licence for restricted imports. “For clearance of import consignments with effect from November 1, 2023, a valid licence for restricted imports is required,” it said in the notification. The clarification was issued after industry representatives met government officials assuring them of ramped-up capacities to boost local production, sources said.
“We are also helping companies if their consignments are stuck at customs. The DGFT has prepared a portal from where licences for importing the electronic equipment can be obtained within hours,” one of them said.
The DGFT is also likely to issue clarifications on the details that will be sought from companies seeking licences to import laptops, tablets and other electronic equipment, the official said. The purpose of asking companies to seek licences was to gather information.
“Once we have these details, we can ask them their Make in India plans and various other details such as where do they source their components from, and whether these components come from trusted partners,” another official said.
Officials underlined that the central government’s move to impose restrictions on the import of these equipment is aimed at giving a fillip to the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and other Make in India initiatives for information technology hardware.
“Having some sort of a non-tariff barrier which encourages domestic manufacturing is a good thing. There is a certain and clear focus on creating domestic manufacturing of laptops, IT hardware and server. We are not allowed to create any tariff barriers and therefore customs duties. So, this non-tariff barrier,” one official said.
Companies that import the electronic items can apply for multiple licences, depending on the number of factories they have in India or elsewhere, another official said. Most of these licences will be valid for one year from the date of issue, he said.
“Two companies have already applied for a licence. We are hoping that the other companies will also apply in time to come,” said one of the officials.
Some of these goods including PCs are among the 102 priority items that the government had identified last year, imports of which are high and seen as needing immediate intervention for domestic production opportunities.
Imports of gold, natural gas, crude palm oil, integrated circuits, personal computers, insulin injections, cameras, urea, antibiotics, turbo-jets, lithium-ion accumulators, refined copper, machines and mechanical appliances comprised 57.66% of India’s total imports, according to a commerce department analysis last year.
