Government allows smartphone deliveries to start from April 20; here is how companies reacted

In an exclusive interview with Zee Business last week. Asus India’s Mobile Business Head, Dinesh Sharma had urged the government to include laptops and smartphones in essential commodities. While the demand has not been met, the government has allowed sales of smartphones, laptops, TVs, and other electronic devices to start from April 20. As per the new government directive, the devices can be sold online via e-commerce platforms, such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal. However, their delivery vans will need permission from authorities for plying on the roads. 

The Asus executive argued that current Work from Home scenario makes these electronic items a necessity. The new guidelines for the online sales of smartphones, laptops, and TVs etc were issued on Wednesday, with no classifications about their nature or classification as essential or non-essential items. 

The guidelines say: “All facilities in the supply chain of essential goods, whether involved in manufacturing, wholesale or retail of such goods through local stores, large brick and mortar stores or e-commerce companies should be allowed to operate, ensuring strict social distancing without any restriction on their timing of opening and closure.” 

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Leon Yu, Regional Director of ASUS India & South Asia, System Business Group says, "We welcome the move as need for Personal Computers as well as Smartphones in the current Work from Home scenario is highly essential." 

He added, “We also welcome the measures announced by the government to enable equally important  industrial and manufacturing activities. Being a customer centric company, we have been working closely with e-commerce partners for the past three weeks since the lockdown. We aim to meet the surge in demand for personal Computers and Smartphones successfully and shall ensure complete compliance of every guideline from the directive.”  

Chinese smartphone maker Honor has also welcomed the move, saying that this will not only make the necessary services such as digital payment and groceries accessible to users but also help them stay connected with loved ones during the stay at home period. 

“Consumers and their interest has always been our priority, hence, we did not increase the price of our top smartphone models even after GST hike and extended the warranty period till 30th June, 2020 for all Honor phones, wearables, headsets and accessories whose warranties expire between 21st March and 21st June, 2020,” it said. 

Meanwhile, Realme has taken up this opportunity to launch its new Narzo series. 

How are e-commerce platforms preparing? 

All the major e-commerce players have started preparing for sales to start. Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal are ready to take orders with the later also scaling up operations to meet demand. 

“Snapdeal is in the process of trimming delivery timelines to align with faster deliveries expected from next week onwards. These will be dynamically adjusted as per the flow of goods as well as operating conditions in various regions,” a Snapdeal Spokesperson said. 

The statement added that since there are many orders, as well as those in transit, and sellers also have stocks, short-term supply chain constraints across popular categories are not expected.