Apple forced to halt MacBook, iPad imports in India

Mumbai, India

Following the Indian government's decision to require licences for firms importing key technology devices, Apple, HP, Dell, Samsung, and more have had to temporarily cease imports.

India unexpectedly announced its new law on Thursday and said that effective immediately, imports of laptops and tablets require a licence. While the government gave no reason for the new regulations nor why they were so abruptly implemented, it's believed to be to help boost local production of these devices.

According to Bloomberg, the decision took all major manufacturers by surprise. Unspecified sources said that companies had been expecting that the government would implement some import measures, but the speed of this licensing requirement caught them off-guard.

The firms are now negotiating with authorities in New Delhi over how to most quickly gain a licence to import their goods.

India's decision comes at a particularly key time of the year for technology firms. The forthcoming Diwali shopping season, coupled to the country's back-to-school period, mean that these months are when firms usually prepare for significant sales volumes.

Bloomberg says that the licence requirement is likely to result in product shortages in India, and may also mean that new launches will be delayed there.

None of the firms affected have commented, and nor has the Indian government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, though, been implementing a "Make in India" program for many years, and this is seen as the latest element of that.

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9 Comments

addicted44 829 comments · 17 Years

About 8 months ago

In a world where countries are worried that the US/West will stop exporting technology to them and therefore stunt the growth of their economies, trust the Indian government (the geniuses who brought you demonetization), to inflict the negatives on India themselves by stopping imports of technology :smiley:

What will be even more hilarious are watching the government trolls try and tell everyone why this is such a genius move that shows India's strength in technology. And I'm sure they will mention the new semiconductor fab that Foxconn is about to setup, and will fail to mention that Foxconn walked away from the plans to set it up, leaving India with a sum total of 0 semiconductors manufactured domestically.

gatorguy 24188 comments · 13 Years

About 8 months ago

addicted44 said:

In a world where countries are worried that the US/West will stop exporting technology to them and therefore stunt the growth of their economies, trust the Indian government (the geniuses who brought you demonetization), to inflict the negatives on India themselves by stopping imports of technology :smiley:

I don't think this is what it's about. On another site they referred to this as a carrot-and-stick approach, and I think I'd agree. Their government is making it clear they expect manufacturing in India to ramp up sooner rather than later, not satisfied with simply being another retail profit center for Apple.

addicted44 829 comments · 17 Years

About 8 months ago

gatorguy said:

addicted44 said:

In a world where countries are worried that the US/West will stop exporting technology to them and therefore stunt the growth of their economies, trust the Indian government (the geniuses who brought you demonetization), to inflict the negatives on India themselves by stopping imports of technology :smiley:

I don't think this is what it's about. On another site they referred to this as a carrot-and-stick approach, and I think I'd agree. Their government is making it clear they expect manufacturing in India to ramp up sooner rather than later, not satisfied with simply being another retail profit center for Apple.

Which is a great idea considering the incredible history of technology manufacturing success in India.

Oh wait...

It is a carrots and sticks approach, but it's another dumb idea from a government that makes the dumbest decisions possible (again, demonetization). Just because the approach may make sense, the actual implementation doesn't need to. And this government consistently fails at implementing anything besides winning power successfully.

The other problem is the idea of promoting tech manufacturing by restricting the import of technology tools. That makes no sense at all. Setting up the manufacturing of say macbooks will suffer from restricting the import of macbooks itself.

Not to mention every other industry that will also suffer, nearly every one of which is dependent on the quick availability of cheap computers.