India-China border standoff hits electronics traders hard

Ludhiana: Strained India-China relation has dealt a severe blow to the computer and peripheral trade, with rates of most electronic items, including printers, USB drives and laptops, witnessing a spike due to the short supply, while items have gone out of stock.
According to traders, this crisis is rooted in the fact that over 90% of the computers, accessories and peripherals sold in India are imported from China.Right since the start of 2020, first because of Covid-19 and then due to the standoff, the supplies from China have been disrupted, they said.
Varun Gupta, a leading wholesaler of IT and peripheral items, said, “Ever since the border standoff between India and China, all big importers of electronic items have stopped their operations, as there are rumours that the government could ban import of some of these items or levy heavy taxes on the imported goods. Due to this, the IT trade has taken a big hit and the rates are increasing on a daily basis.”
He further said the rates of several models of laptops have gone up by Rs 4,000-5,000, hard discs have become costlier by Rs 400-500 and even the rates of pen drives have increased by up to Rs 100. The situation is unlikely to improve unless the supplies from China become normal, he added.
Ajay Jain, another IT trader from the city, told TOI, “This is an unprecedented situation for us, as the rates of some items are changing by the hour. Moreover, we had never seen such severe shortage of supplies. Importers are in a fix whether or not to process their orders placed with the companies in China. Even those, whose consignments have arrived, are facing difficulties in getting the same released, as the time taken for clearance of goods imported from China has also increased.”
Another wholesaler of electronic goods, Sudheer Kumar, said, “We are facing an embarrassing situation due to the fluctuation in rates. In several cases, customers took rates of laptops from us, but by the time they confirmed their orders, the prices had changed. In some cases, we compensated for the price difference from our own pockets. But, if the difference is too much, we are helpless. Several orders were cancelled due to the difference in rates.”