Acs, TVs may be licensed by govt to discourage entry of foreign goods

New Delhi, June 30: The government is likely to licence the import of 10-12 items including air conditioners and several of its components and parts of television sets as it discourages the entry of foreign goods into the country, especially those from China.

The work on the licensing of products had started a few months back. Agarbatti, palm oil were part of the list and now with the tensions with China escalating, more items have been added to the list.

A report in the Times of India said that the focus on reducing import of products such as Acs and its components is also part of an exercise to boost domestic production. While duty hikes are across the board, licensing can allow for import from select countries.

Air conditioning, steel, aluminium, footwear, potato and oranges are among the initial set of items where local manufacturing is proposed to be incentivised The other items include, lithium ion batteries, antibiotics, petrochemicals, auto, mobile parts, toys, TV sets, solar equipments, electronics integrated circuits are also on the list.