Industry Experts Advocate Tariff Barriers to Boost Localization in India

Industry leaders suggest implementing tariff and non-tariff barriers to encourage vendors to invest in India's localization efforts. OEMs must also develop and support the supplier ecosystem to reduce costs and improve global competitiveness, as discussed at the CII Consumer Electronics & Durables Summit 2024.

Industry experts at the CII Consumer Electronics & Durables Summit 2024 called for the introduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers to protect consumer durables component makers. This, they argue, is crucial for encouraging vendor investment in India's localization ecosystem.

Godrej Appliances' Kamal Nandi emphasized the need for such barriers to give vendors the confidence to invest, particularly citing the example of the underutilized refrigerator compressor capacity in India. He highlighted that despite the capacity, India continues to import compressors.

Other industry leaders, including Sundaresan Narayanan of Carrier Airconditioning & Refrigeration Ltd and Atul Khanna of LG Electronics India, echoed the sentiments. They stressed the importance of achieving economies of scale to reduce costs and increase competitiveness, urging OEMs to take a proactive role in developing the domestic supplier ecosystem.