Centre Imposes Ban on Import of Air Conditioners with Refrigerants

New Delhi: In a bid to promote domestic manufacturing and cutting imports of non-essential items, the government at the Centre on Thursday imposed a ban import of air conditioners (ACs) with refrigerants. Also Read – COVID-19: India Continues to Have Lowest Deaths Per Million Population Globally, Says Govt; Total Tally Over 7.3 Million

A notification published by the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on October 15 stated, “Import policy of air conditioners with refrigerants …is amended from free to prohibited.” The ban is imposed on both window and split ACs with refrigerants. Also Read – International Flights: Now Indians Can Travel to 17 Countries | Full List And SOPs Here

As per reports, the ban has been issued with the approval of Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal. The curb on the items has been imposed just before the start of festival season when the sales of electronic items witness a boost. It is an attempt by the Indian government  to boost domestic production by checking the entry of “non-essential” goods into the country. Also Read – China Has No Locus Standi to Comment on India’s Internal Matters: MEA

Notably, it can be said to be a part of the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign which was launched in May this year. This campaign aims at making India ‘self-reliant’. Under this campaign, the Centre had earlier banned tyres, various colour TV sets and agarbattis to keep a check on the entry of non-essential goods in India.

Earlier in August, India had imposed an official ban on around 101 Defence items to boost indigenisation of defence production in the country among which consists light combat helicopters, assault rifles, transport aircraft, armoured fighting vehicles (AFV) and others.

All of these will be indigenously manufactured in the country to boost self-reliance.