India has become the latest nation to restrict imports of used electronic equipment, as concerns grow over the illegal export of electrical waste to developing nations.

The move has been welcomed by UK reprocessors, who have raised concerns over how the material is handled and highlighted the amount of domestically-generated electronic waste India already has to deal with.

And, it comes just weeks after shipping companies revealed they were banning electronics exports from the UK to Nigeria as a result of the West African nation's government restricting imports of electronic and electrical goods 

Announcing the restriction in a statement last month, the Indian government's ministry of environment and forests said: "There is a ban on import of second-hand computers and computer peripherals now.

"As per [the] Ministry of Commerce's Handbook of Procedures Vol. 1 (2009-14), import of second hand computers including personal computers/ laptops and refurbished/reconditioned spares is restricted."

The statement specifically highlighted the shortage of approved WEEE reprocessing capacity in India compared to the amount of WEEE created.

It cited official figures stating that 147,500 tonnes of e-waste was generated in India in 2005, a figure that was expected to rise to 800,000 tonnes in 2012, but said that "authorised and registered" electronic waste recyclers only had the capacity to handle around 95,500 tonnes.