ELCINA is consistently recommending higher import duty on finished goods so as to encourage manufacturing in the country.
This would also increase the value addition and employment generation in India. Recently CBEC has issued two notifications i.e, 91/2017 and 92/2017 on 14th December 2017 thereby increasing the custom duty on various finished electronic goods such as Mobile Phones and Microwave Ovens etc. The details of these products and the respective BCD rates are as follows:
| Srl | Items | HS Code | BCD (%) |
|
Microwave Ovens | 85165000 | 20 |
|
Smart Phones | 85171210 | 15 |
|
CCTV | 852580 | 15 |
|
STB including Android Boxes | 85287100 | 20 |
|
Flat Panel TV’s | 852872 | 20 |
|
LED Lights | 85395000 | 20 |
|
LED Fitting & Fixtures | 9405 | 20 |
|
Energy Metres | 902830 | 15 |
Although India is a signatory of various FTA’s allowing some of these items at zero duty. ELCINA has recommended to various government authorities that these FTA’s should be reviewed based on their manufacturing possibilities in the country. We are also recommending to set up a better surveillance system to track the regional content in the products which are getting imported under these FTA’s thereby ensuring that non-signatory countries may not route their products through FTA members.
