In a recent development, the Indian Government has given OEMs a deadline of March 2025 to switch to the USB-C charging standard.
BIS Quality Benchmarks For Charging Port
Earlier, the State-run Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) had set quality benchmarks for the charging port.
The department of consumer affairs wants device manufacturers to put these standards in their products.
Notably some recent reports have surfaced claiming that some devices will be excluded from incorporating USB Type-C ports on their devices.
Moreover, the center is most likely to exempt feature phones, wearables, and hearables from the mandatory USB-C charging standard.
Exclusion of Feature Phones, Wearables and Hearables
“For mobiles and electronics, USB Type-C port has been made mandatory, the industry players are also on board, but for feature phones, wearables and hearables, stakeholders have said that costs would increase,” said the official.
Basically, this exclusion is being made considering the industry players raised concerns about input costs, which would make feature phones more expensive, the official noted.
Compared to the EU, India has a massive feature phone market with as many as 250 million users, which do not use the USB-C charging port.
Besides this, India is also one of the world’s largest markets for wearable and hearables, which have different types of USB charging support.
Deadline For Implementation
These differences stand India apart from the developed European markets, where a vast majority of consumers use smartphones and iPhones, making it easier to transition to a default charging standard.
To tackle this, the Indian Government has come up with another subgroup to examine the feasibility of having a common charger standard for wearables sold in India.
As we know, the European Union (EU) has already given a deadline of December 28, 2024, to device manufacturers for compliance.
It appears that the mandate will be enforced a few months after that in India, starting March 2025.
So considering this change, the directive will kick in three months after the European Union in India.
For the laptop manufacturers in India, they will have until 2026 to make the changes required.
The stakeholders agreed to a phased rollout of a uniform charging port for effective implementation and easy adoption last month.
It seems that the environment ministry might assess and examine the possible impact of uniform charging ports in electronic devices with regard to e-waste.
