India pulls solder wire QCO to ease electronics manufacturing, boost exports | Today News

New Delhi: India has scrapped a crucial quality control order (QCO) on flux-cored solder wire, which is used in everyday electronic items such as televisions, mobile phones, chargers, and earphones, to support domestic manufacturing and boost exports.

The move is expected to directly benefit Chinese suppliers, who dominate India’s imports of flux-cored solder wire, which is is used to join electronic components and wires by melting to form reliable electrical connections.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), through an order, withdrew the Flux Cored Solder Wire (Quality Control) Order, 2023, after discussions with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), stating that the move was necessary in public interest. With this rollback, the total number of active QCOs has been reduced to 711 from 761.

The withdrawal comes against the backdrop of recommendations made by a NITI Aayog committee set up under former cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, which had suggested easing and rationalizing quality control orders. These orders are meant to ensure that certain products—domestic or imported—meet Indian quality standards before they are allowed to be sold in the Indian market.

A government official said the rollback should be seen as part of a broader review of QCOs to ensure that quality norms do not unintentionally disrupt manufacturing or undermine India’s electronics growth ambitions. “The withdrawal will not apply retrospectively, and any actions taken while the order was in force will remain valid,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

“The withdrawal came after industry flagged that domestic testing capacity was limited and certification timelines were uncertain, raising the risk of supply bottlenecks for electronics manufacturers, particularly those operating under tight production schedules and export commitments,” a senior industry executive said on the condition of anonymity.

The withdrawal of the QCO assumes significance, as imports of flux-cored solder wire from China declined sharply after the order came into force in March 2024. According to commerce ministry data, imports of cored solder wire stood at $24.40 million in FY21 and rose to $32.45 million in FY22 before easing to $24.66 million in FY23. Following the enforcement of the QCO, imports fell to $16.33 million in FY24 and recovered marginally to $21.90 million in FY25. This decline occurred even as overall solder wire imports were much higher, at $101.39 million in FY24 and $109.28 million in FY25, indicating that the impact was concentrated in the flux-cored segment.

To be sure, before coming into force, a QCO is typically notified six months in advance. In this case as well, the order was notified in September 2023, giving the concerned industry six months to ramp up its supply chain.

Flux-cored solder wire is widely used in printed circuit boards, consumer electronics, automotive electronics and industrial equipment.

“Quality controls are important, but their timing matters, and without adequate testing infrastructure, such orders can create challenges for manufacturing and exports,” said Abhash Kumar, trade economist and associate professor of economics at Delhi University.

Given the limited domestic production capacity, large electronics manufacturers and electronics manufacturing service providers such as Dixon Technologies, Foxconn India, Samsung Electronics India, Wistron and Tata Electronics are expected to benefit from smoother access to flux-cored solder wire, which is a critical consumable on high-volume assembly lines.

According to industry executives, China is the single largest source of flux-cored solder wire imports into India, followed by countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia.

Earlier, Mint reported on 9 January that India had informed the World Trade Organization (WTO) about the withdrawal of a total of 49 quality control orders.

The withdrawals span multiple ministries, with the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals accounting for the bulk of the rollbacks, having withdrawn 38 QCOs covering 39 products. This was followed by seven QCOs withdrawn by the mining ministry and two by the textiles ministry, as per the Mint report published on 9 January.

In addition, the steel ministry has suspended an amendment to one QCO covering 55 steel products, while the heavy industries ministry has deferred one QCO on electrical equipment covering eight products.