India restricted the import of laptops, servers and many other consumer-electronic devices on Thursday, saying it will impose a licensing permit for imports in a move analysts say appears to be aimed at boosting the local manufacturing efforts.

"Import of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, and ultra small form factor computers and servers falling under HSN 8741 shall be 'restricted,' '' a government notification said, adding that the import will be allowed against a valid license for restricted imports. The restriction will also not apply to passengers carrying the mentioned devices in their baggage.

This follows a similar curb on smart TV imports years ago and is likely to help boost local manufacturing; New Delhi did not, though explain. India's ban on smart TV imports nearly three years ago boosted local manufacturing, according to analysts.

India had been doling out incentives to firms in the past few years, looking at promoting indigenous manufacturing. The scheme has already managed to attract a slice of the smartphone manufacturers and is fast catching the fancy of the chipmakers and chip and semiconductor producers.

In May, the Narendra Modi government unveiled a $2 billion scheme aimed at encouraging the local building of hardware like laptops, PCs, servers, and related edge computing kits. It formed an upgrade to the earlier one under which the government was willing to spend just $892 million.

This policy announcement seems to be based on the principle of granting safe digital access to the increasing number of digital citizens in the country.  We are assured that bona fide licence shall be granted to trusted industry partners which will enable Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and access to trusted brands to digital consumers," said Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of Indian Cellular and Electronics Association, in a statement.

Two of the companies are Dell and HP that already have manufacturing plants in India. The Indian government intends to draw local production more and more from China, so it can make the country an attractive destination for Apple and its manufacturing partners to create a global manufacturing base. It is currently spending billions of dollars, importing laptops and other hardware in the country.

The government statistics presented in parliament in December said the import value of finished electronic goods in India rose 32 percent to $43 billion in the year 2021-22 from more than $32 billion in 2019-20. With incentives and schemes geared to boost local production, the share of imported finished electronic goods, including components, in total imports of electronic goods declined by 69% in 2019–2020 and reduced to 64% for 2021–22.

Counterpoint, a market research firm based out of Hong Kong, predicts that 30% to 35% laptops and 30% tablets shipped to India during the first half of this year will be made locally.