New Delhi: The Government of India has banned the import of air conditioners in order to boost domestic production.
As per the notification issued by the Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Thursday, split system and others ACs with refrigerants have been moved from “free” to “prohibited” category. The notification states that only the import of air conditioners with refrigerants is prohibited.
This means that an importer can’t fill refrigerant or gas outside and bring into the country. The domestic market for ACs is said to be worth $5-6 billion with a large chunk of ACs being imported into the country.
The import ban has been issued with the approval of Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal. Notably, the government, as part of its Atma Nirbhar Bharat campaign, had earlier banned agarbattis, tyres, TV sets to keep a check on the entry of non-essential goods in India
