India Sets New Standards for Your Electronic Devices
Kegler Brown Global Business News May 8, 2014
The India- U.S. business relationship has taken a hit as of late due to the electronic devices most people carry on a daily basis. Such products like Apple's iPads and iPhones are now under scrutiny with India's new proposed standards for imported electronic tools.
The new standards would require that imported electronic goods such as tablets, laptops, printers, scanners, TV sets, would need to comply with specific certifications set by the Bureau of Indian Standard starting July 1. Mobile devices will fall under a separate set of rules which has yet to be established.
As the Economic Times states, "The U.S. industry sees these standards as non-tariff barriers that could impact exports to India." And India's new stance on electronic gadgets has been prompted by "concerns over substandard goods finding their way into the Indian market," as the article says.
This is another example of how the disparity on trade policies between the two countries could lead to lower import-export trade. India needs to realign its trade policies to be a free market, otherwise reaching a growth rate of 6 percent this year will be impossible.