Air Conditioners with Refrigerants : Daily Current Affairs

Air Conditioners with Refrigerants

India will no longer be able to import air conditioners (ACs) with refrigerants, as the government on October 15 th , has banned their imports — a move that comes in the midst of India’s campaign to be self-reliant by promoting domestic manufacturing of such goods.

According to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a notification, Import policy of air conditioners with refrigerants is amended from free to prohibited category i.e. Split system and others ACs with refrigerants have been moved from "free" to "prohibited" category; the move will provide a boost to domestic AC manufacturing industry.
Non-essential electronic goods have been under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry since the government decided to push for self reliance in various sectors this year.
Air conditioners, specifically, have been singled out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an example of a segment where self-reliance was required. “We import more than 30% of our demand for air conditioners. We have to reduce it fast,” he said in June while discussing the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
In July, the government imposed restrictions on the imports of various colour TV sets.

The domestic market of air conditioners is believed to be around $5-6 billion.
The government aims to shift focus from importing ACs to manufacturing them domestically.
Most ACs are currently imported in the country. The latest DGFT order is expected to provide a big boost for the domestic industry.
The Commerce Ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has also recommended anti-dumping duty for 5 years on Choline Chloride imports from China, Malaysia and Vietnam, following complaints by domestic manufacturers.
Besides, India in August had also introduced an import embargo on 101 items to boost indigenisation of defence production in the country.
Artillery guns, light combat helicopters, assault rifles, corvettes, radars, armoured fighting vehicles (AFV), transport aircraft are among the 101 Defence items that will not be imported from now on. All of these will be indigenously manufactured in the country to boost self-reliance.

The recent initiatives are part of India's plant to become self-reliant in manufacturing.
The border tension with China along the Line of Actual Control has also fuelled anti- China sentiments and call for taking strict trade measures against the Chinese.
As a result of this, India's imports from China have declined 27.63% during April- August this fiscal to $21.58 billion over the same period the previous year, the Centre informed the Parliament recently.