10% duty on displays, mobiles to cost more

New Delhi, October 2

Mobile phone prices are expected to rise about 3% as the government has imposed 10% duty on the import of displays, industry body ICEA said on Friday.

The duty on display assembly and touch panel was proposed to be applied from October 1 under a phased manufacturing programme (PMP) announced in 2016 in consensus with the industry.

“There will be an impact on mobile phone prices between 1.5 and 3%,” industry body ICEA National chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said. India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) members include Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo and Winstron. The objective of the PMP was to facilitate manufacturing of components indigenously and discourage imports thereafter.

“In a rare miss, the industry could not ramp up display assembly production adequately because of Covid and NGT embargo. We continue to be fully committed to domestic manufacturing of sub-assemblies and components. However, now, the focus is to take a lion’s share of global markets and not just import substitution,” Mohindroo said.

He said the ICEA will soon come up with a report on the display ecosystem which would focus on not merely assembly but complete display fabs. — PTI