India’s sudden choice to limit the import of computer systems and tablets seems extra like bureaucratic desperation fairly than a well-considered industrial coverage. The transfer a day later to push again implementation till November solely provides to the sense that New Delhi is making issues up because it goes alongside.

The authorities’s Aug. 3 announcement means companies will want an import license to carry objects like laptops into the nation — an indication that earlier incentives designed to extend home manufacturing had failed to realize traction. Specifically, a 169 billion rupee ($2 billion) plan at hand money again to makers of laptop tools doesn’t appear to be garnering the degrees of curiosity acquired for an earlier coverage geared toward smartphone makers.