Import restrictions on colour TVs: Xiaomi, Sony etc speak up

Tech brands in India that also sell TVs have spoken up over the government’s restrictions on the import of colour TVs. The restriction, announced last night via a notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) simply sates - “Import policy of colour television is amended from free to restricted”.

This restriction has been put in place to promote local manufacturing and to curb the shipments of non-essential items for countries like China.

Putting any item under a restricted category of imports means that to import that particular commodity, the person concerned will first have to get a license from the commerce ministry’s DGFT before they can import it.

This import restriction directly affects the manufacturers who were importing TV sets from abroad to sell in India. For all companies who make their TVs right in the country, this restriction makes little difference. You can find out what TVs come under the import restriction and more details here.

For the customers, in the long run, a restriction like this means that TV prices might eventually go down - but nothing right now.

When asked about this restriction, a Xiaomi spokesperson told HT Tech -

"Xiaomi has been manufacturing smart TVs in India since the launch of Mi TVs in 2018. Currently, over 85% of our Mi TVs sold in India are manufactured in India. We believe that this decision will encourage and give a boost to local manufacturing. "

“Sony has been investing heavily to shift local manufacturing of televisions to India since 2015. Currently, we are successfully manufacturing 99% of BRAVIA televisions in India and we are quite satisfied with the production quality, which is at par with global standards and well accepted by our Indian consumers. We have faith in the Government and this step has built the right momentum for India’s journey to become self-reliant,” said Satish Padmanabhan, Head of Sales at Sony India.