MAIT organises roundtable on Compulsory Registration Order (CRO)

MAIT,  India’s apex Industry body empowering IT, Telecom, and Electronics Hardware, in association with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), recently organised a roundtable on Compulsory Registration Order (CRO), a regulatory requirement for placing electronics and IT goods on the Indian market. Prominent Indian government officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), also participated in the roundtable discussion.

The roundtable discussion aimed at discussing the various benefits of CRO and understanding some of the key bottlenecks in its successful implementation, especially for the laptop and mobile phone industry. On this occasion, a research report weighing the impact of CRO was also launched.

Setting the context of the roundtable, Col. Suhail Zaidi, DG, MAIT, mentioned: “Although a lot of efforts  have been made to streamline the CRO process, there is a scope of improvement. Around 2 years ago, MAIT recognized the imperative to reassess a decade-old regulation with a fresh perspective, aiming to pinpoint obstacles hindering the industry's growth.”

The discussion began with the presentation of the study on CRO by Team BRIEF, the research partner in the MAIT-USISPF CRO study, followed by comments and concerns from the participating dignitaries. While describing how CRO is beneficial for the industry and the country, the dignitaries highlighted some of the key challenges in the CRO process and how that impedes the growth of the industry.

Addressing the industry's concerns, Ms. Asha Nangia, Scientist G & Group Coordinator, MeitY, acknowledged the pain points of the  industry and briefed them on the initiatives undertaken under CRO or by MietY. She assured stakeholders that the report's key findings would be duly considered to enhance the CRO process, particularly focusing on exploring a customs duty waiver to facilitate efficient business operations & enable ease of doing business in the nation.

The roundtable witnessed diverse perspectives of experts from the fields of ICT H/W industry, law, and public policy, as well as the investment forum and academia.