Business: How much is possible to repair smartphone or tablet and how much time it will take will be indicated on the package – News India Live

Consumers who buy electronic equipment often relieve these devices to be repaired. Repair takes a lot of time and in some cases, consumers also give up hope that the repair will be done. In response to many such complaints, the government is going to start the process of repairability index soon, under which smartphones and tablets will also be included for the first time. This index is a label and electronics manufacturers put this label on their products, showing the extent to which the related product and its parts can be repaired.

Under this index, ratings are given based on six criteria. These criteria include depth of genuine, repair information, availability of spare parts within the appropriate time limit, software updates, types and availability of fasteners. It is noteworthy that a committee constituted by the government recommended to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs that the manufacturers of electronic products should implement the practice of laying the repairness index on the products themselves. The purpose of doing this is to ensure that consumers can decide informed shopping based on the information given on this label. According to the recommendations made by the committee, manufacturers will have to randed on the basis of this index before selling their products so that consumers can get complete information. The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs will take necessary views on these recommendations and will soon issue guidelines in this regard. The government formed this committee in September 2024. The recommendations made by the committee are in line with the standards adopted for this purpose globally. The National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has so far received many complaints that consumers are facing many difficulties in repairing their mobile phones and tablets. The number of such complaints in 2022-23 was 19,057, which increased to 21,020 in 2023-24 and 22,864 in 2024-25. The government committee constituted for this will have to give information about the ratings given under the index to the shops and e-commerce platforms where this product is sold and this information will also have to be displayed as a barcode on the product packaging.