Ctrl+Alt+Import: Apple, Dell, HP among 16 impacted by licensing norms

Execs in America say they expect US' Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who is visiting India from August 23-25, to take up the matter with New Delhi

The new Indian policy making it mandatory for companies to obtain a licence to import computers and related information and communication technology products will affect nearly 16 global companies with businesses here that are based in four countries, which have friendly ties with India.

This finding about the potential impact of the policy which begins on 1 November came from data collected from industry associations.

The four countries include the US and Japan where around six companies each will face the brunt of the new order. Both countries are key members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue along with India and Australia.

In addition, the US is India’s largest trading partner. Japan is a Free Trade Association partner of India.

The companies include HP, Dell, Apple, Juniper, Cisco, and HPE in the US. In Japan, they include Toshiba, Sony (Vaio), NEC, Panasonic, Fujitsu, and Dynabook.

The third country is South Korea with whom India has an FTA. South Korea is India’s 10th largest trade partner. Companies like Samsung and LG will be affected by the rule.

Fourthly, Taiwan is a strategic technology partner for semiconductors for India, and its laptop companies, ASUS and Acer, will be impacted.

India is also a member of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity grouping of 14 countries which includes the US, Japan, and South Korea.

One country with whom India has tense relations is China and that means that Lenovo will also face challenges from the import licence regime.

According to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the new licence regime was introduced owing to ‘security concerns’. But executives of some affected companies say the motive is mainly to protect local manufacturing of the products under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. India imports over $19.7 billion worth of laptops and PCs annually.

The companies which will bear the brunt are mostly those which assemble their PCs in one country (China) though some like HP and Dell have limited assembly operations in India.            

Business leaders in America say they expect the United States’ Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who is coming to India between 23 -25 August, to take up the matter with New Delhi.

Nearly eight American associations have urged Tai, in a 15 August letter, to urge the government to reconsider.

They told Tai that imposing an import licence was intended to boost domestic production and pressure companies to participate in the PLI scheme for IT hardware. If true, the associations added, the policy undermined India’s interest in becoming a reliable and resilient supply chain partner.

What’s more, they alleged, mandatory import licensing violates  India’s commitments as a member of the World Trade Organisation.

Tai is to have bilateral meetings with government officials and will participate in the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers’ meeting in Jaipur on how multilateral trade can lead to inclusive prosperity.