India follows EU lead in requiring USB-C charging for smart devices

India is set to require USB-C charging ports in almost all smart devices following action taken by an inter-ministerial task force.

Rohit Kumar Sing, Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, said the move was "in the interest of consumer welfare and the prevention of avoidable e-waste".

The broad consensus at the meeting was that USB-C would be needed for electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, but "feature phones" might end up with a different charging option . A subcommittee has been formed to determine the fate of the portable devices.

But things won't change overnight. The move to USB-C will be done in stages to ensure industry and consumers have time to adapt.

A similar EU effort began last June and became official in October. From 2026, laptops sold in the EU will have to use USB-C while phones, tablets and cameras will make the switch in 2024. The mandate even applies to iPhones despite resistance from Apple to abandon its proprietary Lightning charging system.

With the EU already on the way to USB-C, countries like India could become dumping grounds for outdated phones if they don't follow suit. The United States is also encouraged to adopt USB-C standardization.

India is considered a mobile-first country. Its digitization came at a time that allowed the country to leapfrog the desktop computer revolution that occurred in the West. Before the pandemic, the country was already undergoing what Google called a "seismic digital transformation" - to be further boosted by the pandemic. Its digital economy is expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2025.

As for its electronics industry, the government has set a target to quadruple production by 2026. Exports have an even more ambitious growth rate of 750% by the same year.

In 2022, India produced electronics worth $76 billion, of which only $16 billion was for export. The targets bring the production of electronic goods to $300 billion and the export to $120 billion in just four years.

To realize this goal, the country's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has adopted the slogan "first globalize, then localize". ®