The Indian government has announced reduction in the basic custom duty or BCD of mobile phones, PCB units and mobile chargers. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared the update during her Budget 2024 speech on Tuesday.
Sitharaman pointed out the three-fold in domestic production of mobile phones and around 100-fold growth in export of mobile phones in the last six years as the reason for reducing BCD on mobile phone and components from 20 percent to 15 percent. “With a three-fold increase in domestic production and almost 100-fold jump in exports of mobile phones over the last six years, the Indian mobile industry has matured. In the interest of consumers. I now propose to reduce the BCD (Basic Customs Duty) on mobile phone, mobile PCBA and mobile charger to 15 percent,” she said during the speech. India’s changes in BCD come at a time when the country’s regime is looking to compete with Vietnam and China for mobile production capacity and appeal to more global manufacturers to set up shop in the country. Various stakeholders have pointed towards higher tariffs being a hurdle for global giants to start manufacturing in the country and compare the rates with other established manufacturing hubs across the globe.
Apple is one of the biggest targets for the Centre, giving it more ammunition to start domestic production of iPhones and other devices in the country rather than assembling them here.
Even the mobile handset makers had talked about the need to reduce BCD on mobile components like PCBs which brings the overall price of the smartphones down and enable more people to buy the phones from the market with the latest features and technology on offer.
These changes come as additional relief to the industry which had also got import duty reductions on mobile phone parts from 15 percent to 10 percent in January this year. The revised BCD could help phone brands to cut down the final market price for the consumers, just in time before the crucial festive period kicks off across the country.
