83% Indians seek end-of-life-service-date be made mandatory, reveals survey

‘End of Life Service Date’ refers to the date till which full spares, services and accessories support is available regardless of warranty term. 

While some companies in India pursue an “end of life” policy under which they undertake safe recycling/ disposal of non-functional appliances and gadgets, some others provide buy back policy under which a consumer can trade in an older automobile, gadget like smartphone, tablet or laptop or white goods like refrigerator, washing machine, etc., and avail a discount for a new purchase. However, this approach only leads to increased generation of e-waste.

The new e-waste rules, together with government plans to formulate a “right to repair” policy should be a step forward. Announcing plans to have a right to repair policy, the consumer affairs ministry in July 2022 had expressed that it will ensure that the consumers and service providers have easy access to repair and maintenance information, including software and hardware.

The survey that considered over 32,000 responses from household consumers located in 309 districts of India, found that 77% of consumers want brands to provide service or spare parts support for at least 5 years for high value products currently in use. 

The survey also saw that 47% household consumers have one or more non-functional or partially functional products where they are unable to get support from the brand on spare parts or accessories.

Many surveyed consumers demanded that the Government make it mandatory for all high value serviceable products to have a declared “End of Life Service Date” on the same lines as a “Best Before Date” or “Expiry Date” on human consumption or food products, medicines. The surveyed people have stated that this information, made available upfront will enable them to make better decisions on what product they should purchase.

And finally the survey also revealed that 54% household consumers want the end-of-life service support for existing products to be mandatory for 7 years from manufacturing date, 23% want it for atleast 5 years.