The right to repair movement in India

What is the Repairability Index? What does 'planned obsolescence' with respect to electronics mean? How different is the right to repair movement in the U.S. as compared to India? How are consumer advocates and electronic manufacturers responding to the Index?

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The story so far: The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) last week announced that a report for a “Framework on Repairability Index (RI) in Mobile and Electronic Sector” had been submitted to the government.

Under the RI, consumer electronics and electronic appliances would be assigned a score depending on how easy they are to repair by evaluating products under criteria like availability of spare parts, cost of repair, software updates, and availability of information.

Why is there a focus on repairing products?

The home appliance industry is full of examples of products like washing machines and air conditioners which if purchased several years ago work for a long time without any problems, while the newer ones face frequent failures. While “planned obsolescence” — selling consumers less durable products intentionally so that they come back to buy a newer model — is often cited as a reason for this, there is often a simpler reason: companies are cutting corners on raw materials and manufacturing, under the strain of increasing metal costs and price competition. Attero Recycling CEO Nitin Gupta said in an interaction with The Hindu in 2023 that the “amount of metal content on [appliance] units” had come down, and that shortages in materials like copper have led to leaner engineering choices. India is a net importer of metals, Mr. Gupta said, increasing pressures to maintain existing electronic products.