India Restricts Import Of Laptops, Tablets, Servers And Other PCs
The Indian government on Thursday imposed restrictions on the import of laptops, tablets, servers and other Personal Computers (PCs) with immediate effect. The Centre has imposed the restriction, in an attempt to give a push to local manufacturing. "Their import would be allowed against a valid licence for restricted imports," said a notice issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce, Government of India.
According to the notice issued by the Centre: “Exemption from Import Licencing requirements is provided for Import of 1 All-in-one Personal Computer, or Ultra small form factor Computer, including those purchased from e-commerce portals, through post or courier. Imports shall be subject to payment of duty as applicable."
Premium Segment Shines Even As Overall Smartphone Market Falls In India
The India smartphone market shipped 64 million units in the first half (H1) of 2023 and registered a decline of 10 per cent YoY (year-over-year), a new report said on Thursday. In the second quarter (Q2), the market grew by 10 per cent over the previous quarter but declined by 3 per cent YoY with 34 million units, said International Data Corporation's (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. However, the premium smartphone segment ($600+) grew the highest, up 75 per cent YoY reaching 9 per cent market share.
Oppo Moves Against HC Order That Directed It To Pay 23% Of Its India Sales To Nokia
Handset maker Oppo has moved Supreme Court against a High Court order that directed it to pay 23 per cent of its India sales under its 2018 License Agreement towards "royalty" for alleged infringement of Nokia's three standard essential patents (SEPs) in cellular technology, says a report by ET Telecom.
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Google News Adds Support For Two More Regional Languages
In a bid to support the Indian language news ecosystem and expand the Indian language web broadly, Google India on Thursday announced that Google News will now support two more Indian languages, Gujarati and Punjabi. With this, Google News now supports 10 regional languages in India. Google News is the primary source for breaking news headlines and personalised news stories for most smartphone users and with the addition of Gujarati and Punjabi local languages, the feature will become accessible to people across India in 10 languages.
IBC, K'taka Govt To Set Up Rs 8,000 Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing Unit
International Battery Company (IBC) and the Karnataka government have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up a Rs 8,000 crore recyclable lithium-ion battery manufacturing unit in the state, the media has reported. This move is said to give a big push to the state's electric vehicles (EV) industry. US-based IBC is a privately owned company and it is making some initial batches of its prismatic or rectangular cells in South Korea. IBC would acquire 100 acres of land close to the technology hub of Bengaluru to build its facility, news agency Bloomberg reported.