Government to launch ‘repairability index’ for electronics by December

NEW DELHI: Govt will launch a ‘repairability index’ for mobile phones and electronic products by Dec, a move that will help consumers make informed decisions before purchasing them. The initiative aims to address the growing e-waste problem and encourage manufacturers to produce more easily repairable items.

Speaking at a workshop on ‘Right to Repair Framework’ organised by the govt, Union consumer affairs secretary Nidhi Khare said after the roll out of the index, the department will come up with a regulatory framework as well. “As India emerges as the third largest economy in the world, we should have a vibrant and tech-savvy repair system,” she said. Top industry players attended the meeting and supported the govt’s move.

The ‘repairability index’ is a display or information that manufacturers will have to put on electrical and electronic equipment to inform about their repairability. Sources said once the regulatory framework is notified, manufacturers in India will have to mandatorily display them like in France.

The proposed index will rate products on criteria including availability of technical documents, ease of disassembly, spare parts availability and pricing of spare parts. It will assess various elements that determine how easily a product can be repaired and thereby ultimately promoting a circular economy and reducing e-waste.

Officials said the repairability index would score products on a scale of 1 to 5. The lowest score of 1 will be given to products that have increased risk of getting damaged and require dismantling of multiple components to access a single part. Products that offer a compromise, making some components easily accessible while others requiring more complex disassembly will get the score of 3 while items that are easy to repair as they allow direct access to parts like battery or display without unnecessary removal of other components will get the maximum score of 5.

In an official statement, the consumer affairs department said that the workshop was aimed at establishing a consensus among industry stakeholders on “key parameters for accessing and evaluating repairability index” besides promoting longevity in product design, and democratising repair information to enhance consumer experiences in reusing the mobile and electronics products they own.

HCL Technologies founder Ajai Chowdhry called for legislation to drive the change. “Today, most products are not repairable. We need to design products which can be repaired... Unless we create a law, things will not change,” he said.

The govt has launched a ‘Right to Repair’ portal, with 63 companies onboard, including 23 from the mobile and electronics sector. India is the third largest electronic waste producer globally after China and the US.

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