Online system launched for IT hardware import

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The government has made some changes in the licensing norms to import IT hardware products like laptops and computers. It has put in place an online system for importers of these goods.

The new licensing or authorisation regime, which comes into effect immediately, is aimed at monitoring imports of these products to ensure that they are coming from “trusted” sources, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Saranagi said on Thursday.

After considering the concerns of the stakeholders, some “tweaking” in the policy has been made, and an end-to-end online system was launched for importers, he added. The system, he said, will ensure that it will be faceless and contactless, and there will be no hassles for importers to fill in their details.

The announcement is significant as the government announced on August 4 that an importer would need a licence for the import of these goods from November 1, in a bid to boost domestic production.

The new regime is applicable to laptops, personal computers (including tablet computers), microcomputers, large or mainframe computers, and certain data processing machines to ensure India’s trusted supply chain.

The DGFT also said that an importer can apply from now onwards on the system to seek authorisation for imports, and there would not be any restriction on quantity, value or country.

The Department of Revenue is also involved in the preparation of the new system and the entire application process will take about 10 minutes, and the simple license will be issued in an automated manner.

Companies in the “denied entity list” will not get the authorisations. Such lists include firms which have not fulfilled or defaulted export obligations by availing benefits of schemes like advance authorisation and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG); or having DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) cases against them, Saranagi said. Companies willing to import second-hand goods or refurbished items would also not be allowed to apply for this authorisation as for those imports, the standard operating procedure is different.

Though an online system has been put in place, these IT hardware products are still “under the restricted” category and “there is no change in that”, Sarangi said.

Speaking at the media briefing, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology S Krishnan said that the new mechanism was launched after holding an extensive consultation with the industry.