Import relief: IT hardware cos get one-year leeway

Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell and other companies will get a one-year window to freely import laptops, PCs, servers and other IT hardware products under a new import management system that takes effect on 1 November, three people aware of the development said.

- Gulveen Aulakh 

The ministry of electronics and information technology conveyed this to the companies at a meeting regarding the import management system on Friday, the people said on the condition of anonymity.

This flexibility is intended to allow companies to develop local manufacturing capabilities, and the government will begin imposing restrictions, starting November 2024, reducing the percentage of imports permitted each year.

“Registrations under the import management system will begin from 1 November, but the import restrictions will begin a year later. There will be a sunset clause to the restrictions, which will be 2030, after which it will be reviewed," one of the people cited above said