New Delhi: In a bid to push local manufacturing, the government has restricted the imports of laptops, tablets and personal computers with immediate effect.
“Import of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, and ultra small form factor computers and servers falling under HSN 8741 shall be ‘restricted’ and their import would be allowed against a valid licence for restricted imports,” Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in the notification on Thursday.
The restrictions will not be applicable on imports under Baggage Rules. Certain use cases have also been exempted from the restrictions. These include the import of one laptop, tablet, personal computer, or ultra-small form factor computer through online portals, couriers, or post.
Further, an exemption from an import licence has been provided for 20 such these items per consignment for the purpose of research and development, testing, benchmarking and evaluation, repair and re-export, and for product development. “Given imports shall be allowed subject to condition that the imported goods shall be used for the stated purposes only and will not be sold. Further, after the intended purpose, the products would either be destroyed beyond use or re-exported,” the notification said.
In addition, the import of these electronic goods is exempted from the import licencing requirements when they are an ‘essential’ part of a capital good. “Regarding re-import of goods repaired abroad, licence for Restricted Imports shall not be required for repair and return of said items,” it added.
In April-June, electronics imports, which include laptops, tablets and personal computers, was $19.7 billion, up 6.25% year-on-year.
