Smartphones not made in India set to get costlier in the country – Know why

Imported devices will get more expensive than locally made ones – Here is why.

New Delhi: Smartphones that are not made in India, are set to get costlier in the country as the government is readying up to impose basic customs duty (BCD) on them, a newspaper report said.

As per a report in the Economic Times, government may impose at least 10 percent BCD on smartphones.

This will make “imported devices more expensive than locally made ones” while it will be relief to chip and phone component makers like Foxconn and Wistron that have heavily invested in manufacturing units in India, ET said.

Citing officials in the ministries of commerce, revenue, and IT and electronics, ET said that the Centre is close to a final decision.

“The move is also expected to stimulate investments of more than Rs 1,000 crore that have been on the fence for lack of clarity on price differential incentive as India shifts to goods and services tax (GST) regime. Currently, the duty structure makes imported phones expensive than locally made ones, but that difference was set to be evened out under GST,” ET added.

Indias smartphone market is expected to witness a growth of 15 percent to 130 million units this year, accounting for almost half of the total mobile phone sales in the country, a report by CyberMedia Research (CMR) had said.

The market is estimated to ship 270 million mobile phones in 2017, of which 130 million (48 percent) are forecast to be smartphones.