The government is not examining any proposal at present to put restrictions on imports of more electronic products, Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said on Monday.
“We are monitoring our imports. We are also looking that there should not be undue dependence on any particular country. We want to diversify both our exports as well as our imports. We do not want ourselves to be dependent upon very few sources of imports…So what we are doing, we are evaluating the position in consultation with various ministries. We are looking at trends, but there is nothing in the offing, as of now,” he told reporters here.
The government has announced import curbs on laptops, personal computers and some other electronic devices from November 1 on security grounds and to boost domestic manufacturing.
Earlier the imports of these devices were free but from November the importers would require a licence to do so. The licence will be available only to actual users and those with prior experience in doing so.
The government has taken many steps like the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to encourage domestic manufacturing of computer hardware and there are a lot of multinationals that have already set up manufacturing facilities.
“As and when we feel that…we will do it (restriction on additional products) in consultation with the ministries. But currently, there is no such move,” the secretary added.