Standalone hard disk drive order: Deferred to 1 May 2027

The Government of India has extended implementation of its standalone hard disk drive order from 5 November 2026 to 1 May 2027, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in notification S.O. 5689(E), dated 16 October 2026. The extension postpones the application of compulsory registration requirements to the additional hard disk drives covered by a May amendment.

The notification appears in the Gazette of India issue dated 17 October 2026. It changes the implementation date of S.O. 2204(E), the ministry’s amendment published on 5 May 2026, rather than withdrawing the amendment or replacing its prescribed safety standard.

The distinction matters for USB-type external hard disk drives. The May notification expressly retained their existing regulatory requirements while setting a later commencement date for all other standalone hard disk drives. The October notification does not announce an exemption from those existing USB-drive requirements.

What the May amendment changed

The ministry’s May amendment replaced “USB Type External Hard Disk Drives” with “Standalone Hard Disk Drives” at serial number 50 of the schedule to the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order, 2021. The schedule is the product list that identifies covered goods and their corresponding Indian Standards.

The revised entry specifies IS 13252: Part 1: 2010, titled “Information technology equipment – safety part 1 general requirements”. In plain terms, the entry links the hard disk drive category to a general safety standard for information technology equipment. The October extension retains that standard in its account of the amendment.

The May notification separated the product category into two groups for implementation. USB-type external hard disk drives would continue under existing notified provisions; the order would apply to all other standalone hard disk drives from the original November commencement date. The extension therefore concerns the timetable for that wider coverage, not the creation of a new standard.

Both notifications cite Section 16(1) and (2), read with Section 25(3), of the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 as their legal authority. These are the statutory provisions the government invoked to make the product-standard order and amend its application.

The May amendment stated that the government considered the change necessary or expedient in the public interest. The October notification provides no separate explanation for moving the implementation date.

What compulsory registration involves

The underlying framework connects a product’s inclusion in the schedule with conformity and marking requirements. Paragraph 2 of the 2021 order requires listed goods to meet the corresponding Indian Standard and bear the Standard Mark under a licence from the Bureau of Indian Standards, or BIS.

That provision refers to Scheme-II of Schedule-II of the Bureau of Indian Standards (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018. The Standard Mark is thus a regulated mark used under a BIS licence, rather than a manufacturer’s own statement that a product meets the listed standard.

Paragraph 5 of the order identifies BIS as the authority responsible for certification and enforcement of conformity to the Standard Mark. It also provides for assistance with enforcement from specified government officers or a District Industries Centre when required, and surveillance by agencies notified by BIS in consultation with the ministry.

The framework is not an unconditional requirement for every product in every circumstance. Paragraph 2 excludes manufacture for export where the goods conform to the foreign buyer’s specifications. It also allows the ministry to exempt specified articles, types or ranges of products for reasons recorded in writing. The October notification does not introduce a new product-specific exemption; its operative provision changes the implementation date.

Customs had already received implementation instructions

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs had circulated the May amendment through Instruction No. 09/2026-Customs, dated 12 June 2026. The instruction repeated the distinction between USB-type external hard disk drives and other standalone drives, and directed field formations to familiarise officers with the change.

The board also asked that implementation difficulties be brought to its notice. That was an administrative direction to customs formations concerning the May amendment, not a separate alteration of the product standard or its scope. The October ministry notification subsequently changed the timetable on which that amendment was based.

Industry support for the wider registration requirement had also been reported. Digital Terminal, in its coverage of the May amendment, reported that Seagate Technology’s Senior Regional Director for India, Sameer Bhatia, welcomed stronger standards for internal hard drives in a LinkedIn post. It attributed to him the view that consistent quality requirements could protect users and support system reliability. Those remarks concerned the expansion of coverage, not the October postponement.

The ministry’s extension notification does not set out a revised testing or application schedule, identify an industry request for postponement, or give a reason for selecting the new date. Its stated direction is that implementation of the May order stands extended to 1 May 2027.