Price of mobile phones will come down as government announced reduction in customs duty of camera module, charger and adapter of cellular mobile phones. Presenting her maiden Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made the announcements on Friday.
India is the world’s second largest market for telecommunications with wireless subscriber of 1.15 billion and internet subscriber base of 512 million.
The smartphone market in India is growing at a whooping rate. It grew at 14.5% in 2018. Mobile subscription in India is expected to reach 1.4 Billion by 2021. The sector is projected to grow at 15% in 2019.
In the union budget of 2018, the customs duty on mobile phones has been raised again from 15 percent to 20 percent. The hike was aimed at increasing the domestic production in India. In 2017, the government had announced a duty of 10%. It was raised to 15% in December. Finally in 2018, it was brought to 20%.
The hike had an impact on few foreign players like Apple and Google which are heavily dependent on imports. The low cost smartphone is another challenge for the Indian manufacturers. Lava is one such manufacturer of mobile phones in the country which is facing stiff competition from the low cost phones manufactured by China.
The government had raised the taxes to support domestic players and prioritise its Make in India campaign.
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