The measures came as India's financial crime investigation agency is probing several Chinese firms in money laundering cases. The crackdown coincided with New Delhi's push to promote companies ready to set up mobile manufacturing facilities in India under a production-linked incentives scheme.
Economist Sudhanshu Kumar told Sputnik that World Trade Organization (WTO) rules would not come in the way of implementing such steps.
"Countries hardly care about the WTO rules now; almost every country is protecting its national interest as much as possible. The WTO provisions say that the affected countries can move to the WTO or impose similar restrictions on similar products. With the changing strategic moves, none of these two can stop India," Kumar said.
India's smartphone market revenue crossed $38 billion in 2021, with 27 percent year-on-year growth. Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo dominated the Indian market with a market share of around 60 percent, leaving little space for other brands.
On Monday, Bloomberg reported that India is set to restrict Chinese smartphone makers from selling devices cheaper than INR 12,000 ($150) to "kickstart its faltering" domestic industry. The government wants to oust Chinese smartphone firms from the lower segment of the market to support domestic manufacturers.
Indian manufacturers Micromax, and Lava have less than one percent of the market share in the $38 billion market. Micromax, which had a roughly 20 percent market share in 2014, was decimated by the arrival of Chinese brands.
A consumer study by technology consulting firm Techarc revealed that the camera quality, battery performance, and audio quality are the three main factors determining the expectations of users wanting to buy a smartphone at the INR 6,000-12,000 ($75-150) price range.