Mobile phones could become cheaper if the government accepts a Niti Aayog proposal to drop the 2 per cent import duty imposed on a critical component for handsets in the Union Budget for 2017-18.
According to The Hindu, the Aayog, in its draft three year action plan, has said the duty will hurt mobile phone makers in the country and the government must ensure that industries are not built behind ‘a wall of protection.’
The Budget had imposed a 2 per cent special additional duty on imports of populated printed circuit boards (PCBs) used for mobile phones, as a measure to push the Make in India campaign.
The duty is aimed at providing ‘adequate protection to domestic industry,’ the government had said, so that local manufacturers of PCBs get an incentive of sorts. Handset prices were expected to rise by over 1 per cent owing to the duty.
Calling for a ‘low or no duty regime’ for key inputs of electronic products, the Aayog has said that the 2 per cent customs duty on PCBs would provide modest protection to domestic manufacturers, but hurt the mobile phone manufacturers.
