New Delhi: The government on Tuesday announced duty concessions on certain mobile phone parts that may make some of the mobile handsets cheaper, reported news agency IANS.
The industry, however, asked the government to further cut duties on mobile parts.
The government said that the duty concessions are being given to parts of the transformer of mobile phone chargers and camera lens of mobile camera module, and certain other items.
“This will enable domestic manufacturing of high-growth electronic items,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget 2022-23 speech. The basic Customs duty (BCD) on camera lenses for use in the manufacturing of camera modules has been cut from 15 per cent to 2.5 per cent. However, according to the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), even 2.5 per cent Customs duty is “completely unnecessary”.
“Other parts of the camera module, like actuator assembly and parts of sensor continue at 2.5 per cent which is again unnecessary,” the ICEA added. The government, however, reverted the Customs duty on parts of PCB (gold and aluminium) from 2.5 per cent to 0 per cent.
“The announcements will give a much-needed boost to increased localisation for camera lenses (used in the module) and transformers in chargers/adaptors. However, we do not see these translating into immediate gains for the consumers,” Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, told IANS
