After laptops, cameras and printers may be next in line for import curbs

For FY23, India's total merchandise imports stood at $714 billion, which is 16.5% more than last year. This has resulted in a rising current account deficit

After introducing a mandatory license for imports of personal computers and laptops, the government is considering imposing curbs on other products such as cameras, printers, hard disks, and parts of telephonic and telegraphic devices, The Economic Times (ET) has reported citing people aware of the development.

Given the high local demand for these products and the heavy imports they amount to, the government thinks it is essential to intervene in order to boost domestic production opportunities, the people cited above added.

The import of these products stood at more than $10 billion for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), the ET report said.

Moreover, the government is also evaluating the impact of high-import products such as urea, antibiotics, turbo-jets, lithium-ion accumulators, refined copper, machines and mechanical appliances, solar and photovoltaic cells, aluminium scrap, sunflower seed oil, and cashew nuts, among others.

For FY23, India's total merchandise imports stood at $714 billion, which is 16.5 per cent more than last year. This has resulted in a rising current account deficit, which reached 2 per cent of GDP in the last financial year, the ET report added.

In addition to this, the government is also keeping a close eye on the shipments of the 250 products covered by the Information Technology Agreement-1 or ITA-1 on which India can't levy import duties, the report said. Speaking about this, an official in the know told ET, "The focus is on those end products in the ITA-1 whose bulk imports are a cause of concern."

The ITA-1 products cover several high-technology products, including integrated circuits (ICs), computers, telecom equipment, semiconductors, and software.

"Chips and display are the most costly products and there is a need to encourage their manufacturing. Medical devices are another sector," the official added. Given this background, imports of printers, keyboards, hard discs, and scanners are also being analysed with the motive to look for domestic production opportunities for these items, the ET report said.

Curb on import of laptops, tablets, and personal computers

Last week, the government said that import licenses would be needed for the imports of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, ultra-small factor computers, and servers starting from November 1, 2023.

PC, laptop and tablet imports amounted to a total of $5.3 billion in the last financial year. On the other hand, Wi-Fi dongles, smart card readers, and Android TV box shipment imports stood at $2.6 billion, the report said.