Telecom Lead Asia: Government agencies will now buy more domestically manufactured laptop PCs and tablet PCs.
It is a good news for local tablet makers.
The government is giving preference to Indian made products due to security issues.
As per the latest directive, 50 percent preference (in value terms) will be given to locally manufactured laptop PCs and tablet PCs in Government procurement, subject to the condition that the laptop PCs and tablet PCs meet domestic value addition in terms of bill of material (BOM) of 25 percent and 30 percent respectively in year 1 to qualify as domestically manufactured.
The notifications come into effect immediately. The year 1 for the purpose of this notification would be up to 31 March 2014. The domestic value addition for year 2 onwards shall automatically increase by 5 percent.
This is one of the strategies contained in the National Policy on Electronics (NPE 2012) approved by the Government for promoting the domestic Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) Industry in the country.
The Policy is applicable for Government procurement, whereby the policy will be applicable to all Ministries/Departments (except Defense) and their agencies for electronic products purchased for Governmental purposes and not with a view to commercial resale or with a view to use in the production of goods for commercial sale.