View | Repair in India

Earlier this month there was a PIB release bringing the news of the report of the Committee for the Framework on Repairability Index. This press release did not get the attention that it deserved for it addressed a crying concern of consumers – where does one go to repair a product? The Committee had recommended that a Reparability Index should be displayed at the point of sale/purchase, E-commerce platforms and in the form of QR code on packaged products to enable consumers to make an informed choice.

To give this a background, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced at the idea of LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) at COP26, the Glasgow Climate Conference which took place in November 2021. LiFE set out to promote an environmentally conscious lifestyle with a focus on ‘mindful and deliberate utilisation instead of mindless and wasteful consumption’. The mantra of LiFE was Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; its agenda was ambitious – to create and nurture a global network of individuals, namely ‘Pro-Planet People’ (P3), who would have a shared commitment to adopt and promote environmentally friendly lifestyles. The idea being to replace the ‘use and dispose economy’ with a circular economy ‘defined by mindful and deliberate utilisation’.

A portal, The Right to Repair portal was launched on the National Consumer Rights Day 2022 with an idea to provide consumers with access to repair information. The portal has a list of consumer care details of all major consumer products. The sectors chosen for the initial focus were farming equipment, mobile phones and tablets, consumer durables, automobiles and automobile equipment- all critical. Thus under farming equipment tractor parts, water pump motor and harvesters figure, under mobiles, the whole range from mobiles to tablets to printers.

Under the head of consumer durables from water purifiers to refrigerators and TV’s to air conditioners and mixer grinders figure. Similarly under the head of automobile equipment, from passenger vehicles to two and three wheelers are there. All companies dealing with these products were expected to on board on the portal and provide information about the products, concerns about pricing, details of service centres, including third-party repair facilities.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs ( MCA) had set up a Committee to come up with a Right to Repair framework . The purpose of such a framework was to give consumers a choice to repair their products at an optimal cost instead of buying new products. The ultimate aim being to reduce electrical waste and also boost business for the small repair shops, an important part of the SME universe.

The Committee was accordingly constituted in September 2024 to examine the issues and to submit a framework. The Report submitted now was a consequence of these developments. The Report has based on the large number of complaints received in the National Consumer Helpline regarding mobile phones and tablets, identified these products for notification in the initial phase of the Repairability Index.

The parts which have been identified as most prone to failures include battery, display and back cover assembly, camera, charging port, speaker and the audio connector. Repairability was assessed on some core parameters like disassemble depth, repair information, software updates and tools. A scoring criterion has been assigned for each of the parameters and weightage assigned on a five point numeric scale. The Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) were expected to use the standardised format and self-declare the score-indicating how easily the product can be disassembled, repaired and maintained.

There is no doubt that this initiative is laudable. It empowers the consumers, promotes sustainability, strengthens circular economy, and should also give a fillip to the mom & pop repair shops. The success of the initiative will depend entirely upon the cooperation of the OEMs- for there is an apparent conflict here. OEMs should be willing to admit that their products can go bad and would require repairs. Given the problems which consumers face in getting the OEMs to repair products even within the warranty period, it would be interesting to see how this will pan out. The OEMs would have to scale up and ensure that authorised repair shops are available in easy reach of consumers. They would need to skill their dealers accordingly to handle such complaints.

The success of this initiative depends upon the publicity and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs can certainly do better here. It is they who have to let the average consumer know that there is such a Right available now; wider publicity is required. This is something the OEM’s also should be nudged to do .The average Indian consumer certainly believes in circular technology ; as the joke goes even as simple a thing as a toothbrush finds multiples uses after its bristles are no longer useful for brushing teeth; from cleaning other surfaces and combs, to using it as a means of putting the ‘nala’ for pyjamas!

So they will not require much persuasion. But they are wary of the big OEM’s- she is more comfortable with her neighbourhood repair shops who with their Jugaad technology skills deal with such issues effectively- and at a cheaper price. The Framework is silent on the important aspect of cost. It would also appear that there is no compulsion for the OEM to join this initiative. Further a cursory visit to the website would show that a lot more information has to be put in the domain by the companies – very little pan India details are available of repair centres.

All these issues need to be ‘repaired’ for this initiative to take off.

— The author, Najib Shah, is former Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs. The views expressed are personal.

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