Five global handset makers – Apple, Acer, LeEco, Lenovo and Oppo – called on the Indian government to relax its 30 per cent local sourcing rule for foreign firms setting up single-brand retail stores.

According to the Commerce and Industry Ministry, the government, however, has not yet decided to review the requests, the Economic Times said.

In June the government reversed its decision the previous month not to ease local sourcing rules for Apple and granted the iPhone maker a three-year waiver on the requirement, which clears the way for it to open Apple Stores in the country.

The country’s local sourcing law requires foreign firms with single-brand outlets to source 30 per cent of the sales value of the components from India within five years of starting operations. But foreign direct investment regulations allow the government to relax the rules for firms “undertaking single-brand retailing of products having state-of-the-art and cutting-edge technology and where local sourcing is not possible”.

Proposals to ease sourcing conditions, when firms looking to set up single-brand retail outlets incorporate “state of the art and cutting edge technology” in their products, are examined by the ministries and departments concerned, the Times said. The government then reviews the proposals.