With an aim to tap the billion dollar market for repair of electronic goods, the Commerce Ministry has initiated an inter-ministerial consultation to streamline and simplify procedures to make India a hub for the sector.
"Huge opportunities exist in the repair business for Indian players. Commerce Ministry has started the process to tap that market.
"The Ministry is in the process of formulating proposals on all the issues. It would be taken up with the concerned authorities for formal consideration," a senior government official told PTI.
Domestic players involved in the business of repair, reconditioning and refurbishment of electronic goods face several problems such as long delays in inward and outward customs clearances.
A meeting on the matter was taken by Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher on December 22 last year which was attended by officials from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Department of Revenue and Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The American and European market for repair, reconditioning and refurbishing of electronic goods is estimated to be USD 10 billion annually each.
The major countries servicing the American market are China, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand.
India has a few emerging companies which are providing these services but the combined turnover is of the order of only USD 5 million.
"Indian workers are recognised as having better diagnostic skills and thus enjoy a core competence in the area of repair and re-export and this should be used as a major opportunity.
"Further, due to excellence in the software sector, Indian industry has very good brand equity in the US," the official said.
An export volume of USD 1 billion can be targeted in the US market over the next three years and it would also help in creating about five lakh jobs in the country "by merely simplifying the procedures," the official added.
Since repair and refurbishment services are related to warranties, guarantees and require time-bound delivery, the maximum time for inward and outward custom clearance needs to be specified and could be fixed at 48 hours.
Further, the official added that units under this category may be asked to provide monthly declarations of imported and exported quantities for each type of hardware to customs, subject to periodic audit and deterrent penal provisions for wrong declarations.
"Also, the maximum time for export of any imported item after repair or being scrapped needs to be fixed as six months," another official said.
