MAIT asks govt for subsidies to increase PC penetration

Congratulating Narendra Modi on taking oath as Prime Minister, the IT hardware industry body today urged the government to offer easy loans and discount vouchers to encourage purchases of personal computers.
MAIT also asked the government to look into the Compulsory Registration order, which makes 15 electronic products including video games, laptops and microwave ovens subject to safety standards, and highlighted the issue of delays in approvals by state pollution boards for manufacturing electronic products.
"The BJP should look at increasing PC penetration in Indian households by enabling infrastructure, providing low-cost loans and discount vouchers for purchasing PCs," MAIT said in a statement.

The IT hardware industry finds it difficult to compete with exchange-rate variations, MAIT said, adding that the government should consider amending adoption of exchange rate variation clause for all IT hardware product purchase contracts, regardless of delivery period under the General Finance Rules (GFR) 2005.
"Implementation woes in Compulsory Registration order, delays in granting of EPR PR (extended producer responsibility) authorisations by state pollution boards, no fixed process for registrations and unclear deadlines badly impact the industry," MAIT said.
The IT industry has always been a trendsetter in terms of quality and safety. The government should jointly work with the industry on self-regulation, the body added.

An inverted duty structure makes domestically manufactured goods uncompetitive. The government should all components used by IT manufacturers from special additional duty, it said.

With electronic imports standing at USD 16 billion, the BJP should introduce enabling policies to spruce up hardware manufacturing to facilitate investments in the country.
While India has experienced significant growth in PC sales, it still has an IT penetration of below 10 per cent, MAIT President Amar Babu said.
"We expect the BJP to stimulate growth in the ICT segment, which would engage 4,23,500 people, contribute Rs 2,91,700 crore to the GDP and Rs 1,10,600 crore in taxes during the next five years," Babu said.