US Trade Rep Urges India To Ensure Hardware Import Rules Don’t Hurt Trade

India’s import mandates for computers and tablets took center stage at the 14th Ministerial-level meeting of the India-US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting in New Delhi. 

During the meeting, US trade representative (USTR) Ambassador Katherine Tai raised the issue of India’s new import requirements for hardwares. She urged her Indian counterpart, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, to ensure that all related policies do not restrict trade in the sector.

“Ambassador Tai raised the issue of India’s new import requirements for computers, tablets, and servers… She… urged India to ensure that the end-to-end online system currently in operation and related policies do not restrict trade going forward,” said a joint statement. 

In August last year, the union government imposed restrictions on import of laptops, tablets, and personal computers with immediate effect. After much hue and cry from stakeholders, the Centre deferred the implementation and announced a new ‘import management system’ to monitor shipments of laptops, tablets, and computers. 

Tai also welcomed the implementation of the new ‘import management system’, saying that the move has so far minimised the impact on trade. She also called for collaboration with Indian authorities to ensure resilience of supply chains in the hardware sector. 

Meanwhile, Minister Goyal cited national security concerns as the reason behind the country’s new import requirements for computers and tablets during the meeting. He also said that the country would continue to engage with the US and other stakeholders on the matter. 

“Minister Goyal described India’s objectives, including those related to national security concerns, and Ambassador Tai expressed a willingness to collaborate with India on the shared objective of supply chain resilience in this sector. India conveyed its willingness to continue engaging on this issue with the United States and other interested stakeholders,” added the statement.

The Centre’s move, in August last year, to put laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, ultra-small factor computers and servers in the restricted imports category last year, with immediate effect, left the entire industry in disarray. 

As global giants ran from pillar to post to secure a licence to comply with the mandates, many made a beeline for the Indian officials to defer the implementation of the move citing a cumbersome licensing regime and a major potential snag in the market supply. 

On the other hand, the government cited national security issues, adding that some hardware could have security-related issues and may compromise sensitive and personal data. The move was also envisaged with beefing up the local manufacturing industry and bringing global players to the country. 

Eventually, global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) began to line up for India, looking to cash in on the incentives offered by the Centre under the production-linked-incentive (PLIs) scheme. 

So far, the government has cleared 110 of the 111 applications submitted by companies to manufacture IT hardware products such as laptops and computers. The names include names such as Apple, Dell, Lenovo, among others.

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