Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronic and Information Technology, has emphasized that the import of laptops and servers into India should be exclusively from trusted sources. He clarified that the government is not imposing import restrictions but is establishing an effective import management system to ensure the reliability of equipment entering the digital ecosystem.
This move could potentially limit access to Indian markets for Chinese laptops. The government has previously implemented a similar trusted source directive for telecom equipment, excluding major telecom gear manufacturers Huawei and ZTE from India. However, a precise definition of “trusted source” in the context of IT hardware is yet to be determined.
While most laptop manufacturers come from trusted trade partner countries such as the US, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, their manufacturing bases are often in China. Lenovo is currently the only Chinese laptop brand available in India.
The industry is closely monitoring the government’s definition of “trusted hardware” amid initiatives like the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware launched in May 2023.