India is in the crosshairs of the World Trade Organization with its sudden decision to restrict the import of laptops, tablets and PCs — though a dysfunctional dispute settlement body there will come to its advantage, analysts said. They said the introduction of licences for the import of the devices is likely to push up the prices ahead of the festival season.

Trade analyst Biswajit Dhar said: “The ban is not WTO compliant since India had agreed to eliminate tariff restrictions in accordance with its commitments under the information technology agreement.

“The dysfunctional state of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism means that India will not be under any pressure to remove these restrictions.”

Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) co-founder Ajay Srivastava said: “India could be dragged into disputes by the members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). But as the WTO disputes body is dysfunctional, India may have time to respond. India may take the national security plea saying unchecked imports constitute a national security threat.”

The basic customs duties on laptop, PCs and similar products in India is zero. India cannot increase this duty as it has committed itself to zero duties on computers and many IT-related products by signing an Information Technology Agreement (ITA) in 1997.

Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president – Devices Research, IDC, said: “The objective of the move is to push local manufacturing. However, our ecosystem isn’t ready for an assembly of this magnitude.”