As per the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020, India has distinguished between goods that are new and those that are second-hand, remanufactured, refurbished or reconditioned. The country allows the import of second-hand capital goods by end-users without an import license, provided the goods have a residual life of five years. In addition, users are required to present the certificate of an Indian chartered engineer attesting that such spare parts have at least 80% residual life of the original spare part, while second-hand domestic capital goods are not subject to this requirement. Problems reported by industry representatives include excessive details required in the license application, quantity limitations set at specific part numbers, and long delays between application and license issuance. According to a 2018 amendment (DGFT Notification No. 58/2015-2020), second-hand goods imported for repair, refurbishment, reconditioning or re-engineering purposes can be exported back under the customs notification provided that the waste generated during the repair or refurbishment of the imported items is treated in accordance with national environmental laws/regulations/rules/regulations/standards.

On 30 July 2020, the Indian Directorate General of Foreign Trade, through Notification No. 22/2015-2020, amended the import policy of colour television sets from "Free" to "Restricted". According to the notification, a license shall be required for imports of these TV sets, including smart TVs.

According to the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order of 2021, and subsequent notifications, 76 ICT products must undergo registration and labelling prior to being launched in the market. In addition, no person shall manufacture or store for sale, import, sell, or distribute goods that do not conform to the Indian standard specified in the order and do not bear the Standard Mark with a unique registration number obtained from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). BIS grants a license to the manufacturers to use or apply Standard Mark with a unique R-number through registration based on self-declaration of conformity for goods and articles as per Indian Standards. Examples of products subject to the scheme include set-top boxes, amplifiers, laptops/notebooks/tablets, scanners, printers, and mobile phones. It is reported that India has been tightening quality clearances for electronic products from China, which has ended up holding up products such as mobile phones from Chinese companies. While applications to the BIS are typically processed within 15 days, they now take more than two months.

According to Notification No. 5 (2015-2020), the import of goods (new as well as second-hand, whether or not refurbished, repaired, or reconditioned) notified under the Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order of 2021 is prohibited unless they are registered with the Bureau of Indian Standards and comply with its labelling requirements, or on a specific exemption letter from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) for a particular consignment.

According to the Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy Circular 2020, for any single-brand retail, including e-commerce entities with physical stores in India, foreign investment exceeding 51% is only allowed when 30% of the value of goods purchased is done from India. This requirement was established by the Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy Circular 2013. It is reported that India has modified the requirements in recent years, including by allowing firms to offset the local sourcing requirement by sourcing products from India for global supply chains. In addition, despite these modifications, it is reported that the local content requirements remain prohibitive for certain retailers with highly specialised supply chains.

According to the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, the export of dual-use items and technologies is either prohibited or permitted under a license. The list of dual-use items also includes electronics, computers, and information technology, including information security.

In September 2017, India's Ministry of Communications introduced the Telegraph (Amendment) Rules, requiring testing and certification for all telegraph equipment. This led to the implementation of the Mandatory Testing and Certification for Telecom Equipment (MTCTE) procedures in 2019, which mandate local security testing for telecom products. In September 2021, the MTCTE program was expanded to include 175 products, prompting concerns from stakeholders regarding these in-country testing requirements.
Furthermore, the 2021 Electronics and Information Technology Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order mandates that manufacturers and importers register and certify their products with Bureau of Indian Standards-accredited laboratories, even if they have already been certified internationally. Expanded to cover 63 product categories, this order has faced criticism for insufficient government testing capacity, a complex registration process, and high compliance costs, including factory-level and component-level testing.

The rules on security clearance for telecom equipment have required that telecom service providers (TSPs) use network elements that have been tested as per contemporary Indian or international security standards. Since April 2013, no certification of network equipment has been undertaken by authorised and certified agencies/labs in India.
Only resident-trained Indian nationals can be employed as executives responsible for certain security checks. There is also a possibility of extensive inspections of hardware, software, design, development and manufacturing facilities, as well as supply chains that might jeopardise intellectual property rights. High fines are imposed in case of non-compliance.
Additionally, since September 2017, India's Telegraph (Amendment) Rules require onerous in-country security testing on all telecom network equipment and products. Previously, such products could be tested and certified in laboratories globally or at manufacturers' in-house laboratories (self-certification). Mandatory testing and certification by Indian laboratories trigger additional costs and unnecessary delays for companies, especially given that the availability of suitable laboratories in India remains unclear. Furthermore, there are concerns about India's compulsory security certification scheme (CRS).

The Indian government used to block purchases of telecom equipment from Chinese vendors on national security grounds. The Department of Telecommunications amended its license conditions for mobile service providers and required them to submit all plans for the procurement of telecom equipment from foreign vendors for screening and “security clearance” purposes. Although the amendment did not single out China, it is reported that, in practice, security agencies had been blocking applications involving Chinese vendors.
The aforesaid process is soon to be replaced with a new Directive, which will enter into force in mid-2021. The Department of Telecommunications will declare a list of trusted sources and products for installations in India's telecom network. The methodology to designate trusted products will be devised by the designated authority (National Cyber Security Coordinator). As per the directive, telecom service providers will be required to connect new devices from the list of trusted products. The list of trusted sources and products will be decided based on the approval of a committee headed by the deputy national security advisor. When announcing the directive, the Telecom and IT Minister said that measures will be taken to increase the use of equipment from trusted Indian sources.

According to Notification No. 107/(RE-2013)/2009-2014, GSM mobile handsets’ with duplicate International Mobile Equipment Identity Number (IMEI) or fake IMEI & ‘CDMA mobile handsets’ with duplicate Electronic Serial Number (ESN)/ mobile equipment identifier (MEID) or fake ESN/MEID are added to the list of ‘Prohibited’ items for import. The Government has taken over from a private agency to issue and manage IMEI allocation for mobile phones in India.

According to Section 3 of The Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, banking information must be stored for 10 years "from the date of cessation of the transactions between the client and the banking company, financial institution or intermediary, as the case may be".

As per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, a listed entity (i.e. an entity which is listed on the stock market) is required to have a policy for the preservation of documents. The SEBI Listing Regulations require that records, books, papers and documents of the company be preserved as per the following classifications:
- Schedule I - to be preserved permanently. Documents listed under this schedule include incorporation documents, share certificates, register of minutes of board meetings, register of members, etc.
- Schedule II – to be preserved for eight years. Documents listed under this schedule include books of accounts, attendance register of board meetings, register for debenture holders, etc.
- Schedule III – to be preserved for a minimum period of five years or such higher period as may be determined by the board of directors of the company. Documents listed under this schedule include a register of stock options, a register of directors and key managerial personnel, disclosures made under applicable company laws, etc.
As per the SEBI Listing Regulations, documents set out in Schedule I and II can be kept in electronic mode. The complete list of documents under each schedule is set out in the SEBI Listing Regulations.

Under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021, a "significant" social media intermediary (defined as a social media intermediary having number of registered users in India above 5,000,000) must appoint a Chief Compliance Officer who must ensure compliance with the Rules and will be liable in any proceedings relating to any relevant third-party information, data or communication link made available or hosted by that intermediary where he/she fails to ensure that such intermediary observes due diligence while discharging its duties under the Rules.

Under Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, both central and state governments are empowered to instruct any government agency to intercept, monitor, or decrypt electronic information. This authority can be exercised on the following grounds: in the interest of India's sovereignty or integrity; for the security of the State; to maintain friendly relations with foreign states; for public order; or to prevent or investigate the commission of an offence. Additionally, under Section 69B, the government is authorised to permit any agency to monitor and collect traffic data or information exchanged through a computer resource.
The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring, and Decryption of Information) Rules of 2009 and the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Monitoring and Collecting Traffic Data or Information) Rules of 2009, both promulgated under the Information Technology Act, provide procedural guidelines for carrying out such interception and monitoring. For example, Rule 3 of the latter Rules permits the collection and/or monitoring of traffic data or information via a computer resource for several purposes, including: forecasting imminent cyber incidents; monitoring network applications; identifying and determining viruses or computer contaminants; tracking cybersecurity breaches or incidents; identifying individuals who have breached or are suspected of breaching cybersecurity measures; conducting forensic analyses as part of investigations or internal audits of information security practices; accessing stored data for the enforcement of cybersecurity law; or addressing any other cybersecurity-related issues.

Pursuant to Section 5 of the Telegraph Act and the Telegraph Rules, the Government has the power to temporarily possess licensed telegraphs and order the interception or disclosure of messages sent through such devices. The definition of a telegraph is fairly wide: it means any appliance, instrument, material, or apparatus used (or that is capable of being used) for transmission or reception of signs, signals, writing, images, and sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, visual, or other electromagnetic emissions, radio waves or Hertzian waves, or galvanic, electric, or magnetic means. It is not clear whether a court order is required to access the data.