Lithium-ion cell and PCB assembly to face 5 per cent and 10 per cent customs duty respectively.
The government has announced basic customs duty on imported lithium-ion cell and printed circuit board (PCB) assembly used in cellphone battery packs. The decision is in line with its policy to boost local manufacturing.
Imported lithium-ion cell and PCB assembly will be charged customs duty of 5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. However, parts, subparts and raw material used in making lithium-ion cells are exempted from customs duty.
According a report in The Economic Times, there is, however, no change in the basic customs duty on import of lithium-ion battery for mobile phones, which remains at 15 per cent. A notification to this effect has been issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
As part of its Make in India initiative, the government declared in July 2017 that imported smartphones would attract customs duty, and it was subsequently raised in the 2018-19 budget. Pratik Jain, Partner and Leader — Indirect tax at PwC India, said to ET that the changes in customs duty rates are clearly directed towards the Make in India push by the government for local manufacturing of mobile phones or electronic goods as well as to align the duty rates with the Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
