Government adds restrictions to import of colour TVs in move to promote Indian manufacturing

The government on Thursday imposed restrictions on imports of colour television, a move aimed at promoting domestic manufacturing and cut inbound shipments of non-essential items from countries like China. “Import policy of colour television…..is amended from free to restricted,” Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. Putting an item under restricted category of imports means the importer of that commodity will have to seek licence from the commerce ministry’s DGFT for the imports. The major exporters of TV sets include China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, and Germany.

The curbs are imposed on TV sets of screen size ranging from up to 36 cm to over 105 cm. Liquid crystal display (LCD) television sets of screen size below 63 cm are also covered under the restrictions. India imported colour TV worth USD 781 million in 2019-20. Imports from Vietnam and China stood at USD 428 million and USD 293 million respectively in the last financial year. Commenting on the development, President and CEO Panasonic India Manish Sharma said that consumers are going to get high quality assembled TV sets now. “It will definitely have a positive impact on domestic assembling which happens here. Leading brands already have manufacturing and assembling units in the country. So, it is not going to impact us,” he said. The move will have a procedural impact, he added.