Mobile Phones To Get Costlier As Govt Imposes 10% Display Duty: ICEA

Mobile phone prices are expected to rise about 3 per cent as the government has imposed 10 per cent 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 per cent,” industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) National Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said in a statement. 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-19 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.

Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal-promoted Volcan Investments had proposed to set up the country's first LCD manufacturing unit in 2016 with investment of around Rs 68,000 crore in the name of Twinstar Display Technologies. However, the proposal did not get the government's approval.

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor