Make in India is a project created by the central government and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. The main objective of the project is to manufacture as many products as possible in India itself. The aim is also to attract foreign investment for the production. Make in India's slogan is 'Make in India, Sell Abroad'. Due to this, foreign investment doubled to 83 billion dollars in eight years. More attention has been paid to the manufacturing of semi-conductors but not as many jobs have been created as intended.

China became a world power by capturing the markets of other countries with their products. The Make in India initiative is an attempt to follow almost the same path but mostly imported products are used in many sectors of the country. India's IT sector which boomed in a decade and a half, imports millions of laptops and PCs every year. India is one of the largest markets for international brands such as Apple, Samsung, Dell and Lenovo. China is the largest exporter of computers to India, accounting for 77 percent of the imports. Ever since the border dispute between India and China, the central government has imposed restrictions on fields that are more dependent on China. Restriction on laptop imports is a part of this. Import of laptops, personal computers, tablets and servers from abroad is restricted. Although the import is not prohibited, the Directorate of Foreign Trade has ordered that these can be imported only if there is a special license. License has not been made compulsory for companies to receive the products that have been ordered before the restriction. Meanwhile, there is no restriction on importing necessary components for the computer. There are many companies that manufacture laptops in India by importing such components.

The new regulation is also to give more incentives to such companies under the Make in India scheme. The new decision may have been motivated by the concern that using laptops made in China will lead to data loss in India. Following the central government's decision, the stock value of companies including Dixon Technologies in India, which assembles laptops and other products, has risen massively. Last year, India's computer exports were worth just Rs 462 crore while imports were worth Rs 54,956 crore. This gap needs to be filled and the new decision will be aimed at that. There is no change in the rule that foreigners arriving from abroad will not have to pay customs duty to bring in a new laptop if they show proof of purchase and tax payment. A used laptop can also be brought duty-free if there is proof of purchase. While buying a laptop from abroad online is not a hassle, the price may go up due to import duty and shipping fees as per the new law. Computers imported for research purposes are exempted from the regulation.