NEW DELHI : The Government has received interest from companies such as HP and Dell towards its new and upgraded production-linked incentive scheme for IT hardware manufacturing and has made it clear that there will be “no more extensions” beyond the October 31 deadline for those selling laptops in India through the import route without a licence.

A top source in the IT & electronics ministry told that the government remains firm on the deadline by when licence-free imports will be allowed, even when there is demand from the industry to extend the relaxation by around 9-12 months. “From November 1, the new rule that mandates a licence for importing laptops and tablets to India will come into play. This date will be maintained,” the source said.

After mandating a licence for import of laptops and tablets to the country on August 3, the government had decided to defer the decision till October-end, amid fears that curbs could limit supplies in the market during the festive period.

The Government had then stepped into damage control mode as top companies such as Samsung, Apple, HP and others were forced to stop shipments into the country as they needed a licence to keep the supply chain going. The government had given a notice of just over 12 hours before putting in place the new regime, which faced flak from several quarters. There was discomfort in sections of the industry as well as on social media that the Government was trying to drive in a licensing regime through an “ad-hoc decision”.