‘Act of God’ clause sought in procurement of IT hardware as component prices surge, supply tightens

New Delhi: IT hardware suppliers in India have requested the government to issue force majeure advisories on public procurement of electronics including desktops, laptops, servers and storage systems, citing acute price hikes and supply constraints of critical components such as memory, storage and processors.

They have reached out to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) through their industry associations to coordinate with the Department of Expenditure as well as the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and other procuring entities to provide time-bound procurement relief similar to force majeure advisories issued during the Covid pandemic, industry executives told ET.