Govt to meet industry stakeholders to discuss universal charger for all electronic gadgets

New Delhi: The government will discuss the possibility of adopting a standard charger for cell phones and other portable electronic devices at a meeting with industry stakeholders on Wednesday.

Manufacturers of portable electronic equipment, such as laptops and mobile phones, will attend the conference, which will be presided over by Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh, and is set to start after noon.

The meeting will include members from industry groups CII and FICCI, sector-specific organisations, and IIT Delhi and IIT BHU.

"The meeting will be more of an explorative nature. We will try to learn from the stakeholders how a common charger can be adopted in India. We will also try to understand their concerns," the secretary told PTI.

Europe is already working towards adopting this norm, he noted.

The meeting with sector-specific organisations will assess the possibility of ending the use of multiple chargers in India and reduce the burden on consumers besides preventing e-waste.

Currently, consumers are forced to buy a separate charger every time they buy a new device due to incompatibility of the ports of the existing charger.

Recently, the European Union announced the adoption of a USB-C port common charging standard for small electronic devices by 2024.

A similar demand is in the US as well.

With PTI inputs