Locally manufactured PCs, laptops, and tablets to get 50% price preference in govt procurement

The government has operationalised the policy for providing preference to locally manufactured computer systems, including desktop PCs, dot matrix printers, laptops and tablet PCs in government procurement.

Accordingly, domestically manufactured PCS, laptops and tablets will be eligible for 50 per cent preference (in value terms) in government procurement, subject to the condition that the PCs, laptops and tablets meet domestic value addition in terms of bill of material (BOM) of 25 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, in Year 1 (2013-14). This will go up by 5 per cent from the subsequent year.

The move is in furtherance of the policy notified on 10 February 2012 for providing preference to domestically manufactured electronic products in procurement due to security considerations, an official release said today.

The policy is inter-alia applicable for procurement across all ministries/departments, except defence and their agencies, for electronic products purchased for governmental purposes and not with a view to commercial resale or with a view to use in the production of goods for commercial sale, the release said.

This is one of the strategies contained in the National Policy on Electronics (NPE 2012) approved by the government for promoting the domestic electronics system design and manufacturing (ESDM) industry in the country.

The department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) had issued a notification on 17 December 2012 for providing preference to domestically manufactured desktop PCs and dot matrix printers in government procurement. DeitY had since issued two more notifications on 22 January 2013 for providing preference to domestically manufactured laptop PCs and tablet PCs, which would now be operationalised with retrospective effect, ie, from 17 December 2012.