India has become pretty strict with the technologies imported to the boundaries of the nation from China. Major tech companies, including HP and Dell, along with Oppo, Vivo, and Lenovo, have had to delay the launch of their products because of not getting approvals to import to India. Select finished products which carry Wi-Fi modules such as smartwatches, laptops, Bluetooth speakers, wireless earphones, and more are being withheld by the government to be imported to India.
The government body responsible for approving the import of these products to India is the Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) wing of the Communications Ministry. Firms need to get permission from the WPC before importing their products with Wi-Fi modules to India.
As per a Reuters report, the WPC has been delaying the approval of products coming from China since November. Due to this, the companies have to delay the launch of their new products in the country.
Not Only Chinese Companies, But US Companies Facing Issues as Well
The list of affected companies due to the delayed approval from the WPC includes Chinese as well as the US and South Korean companies such as Samsung. Around 80 odd applications from several foreign companies and even some application forms from Indian companies that bring in finished products from China are waiting for approval from WPC.
India is making it hard for the companies to import products from China to force them to manufacture within India instead of bringing in products from outside. The government’s ‘Aatmanirbhar’ mission wants companies to invest big bucks in India and produce within its boundaries.
The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme of the government is also aimed at the same goal of inviting companies to India for manufacturing locally. This policy of the government has made India a prominent smartphone manufacturer throughout the world. However, tech analysts believe that India still lacks the infrastructure scale or size for big tech giants to set up their production plants for smart wearables and more in the country.
This has put tech companies in a tough spot since they can’t launch their products and import them at a fast rate which is a potential loss in revenues. At the same time, they can’t even put a huge investment directly in India and then wait for a long-time to see any returns.
Only time will tell whether the delay from WPC to withhold products from several companies will result in India’s favour, or it will be a move gone wrong from the government.
