The government of India has imposed 10 per cent import duty of display panels for smart and feature phones. The same has been postponed twice in the past
In a move to boost domestic manufacturing of handsets and components used in the same, the government of India has imposed 10 per cent import duty of display panels used in the same. It is to be noted here that display panels constitute 15 to 25 per cent cost of manufacturing a handset.
These import duties were originally slated to come into effect from April 2010. The government had postponed the move in order to give eco-system players to set up base in the country. There are not any units manufacturing display panels in the country.
The PLI scheme
The ministry of electronics and information technology had formally unveiled all the conditions and specifications of three schemes aimed to make India’s electronics manufacturing capabilities to a new level. Dubbed Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing, Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) and Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme, these were first announced in the month of March 2020.
“This triology of schemes entail an outlay of about Rs 50,000 crore(approximately USD 7 billion).The Schemes will help offset the disability for domestic electronics manufacturing and hence, strengthen the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The three Schemes together will enable large scale electronics manufacturing, domestic supply chain of components and state-of-the-art infrastructure and common facilities for large anchor units and their supply chain partners,” had read Meity’s official statement.
Sanjay Dhotre, minister of State for Communications and Electronics and IT, citing data obtained from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), noted that India exported smartphone components worth Rs 56,039 crore during 2019-20. Out of the total amount, smartphone components worth Rs 25,441 crore were exported from China.
The total electronic component imports in India during 2019-20 was Rs 1,15,558 crore, out of which, imports from China was Rs 42,983 crore.
