IEEMA wants lower customs, excise duties

The Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA) said that it wanted the government to bring down customs and excise duties to around 5 per cent to 10 per cent in order to make them at par with the ASEAN countries.

"Although the government in this budget has brought down duties on non-ferrous metals to 15 per cent and on finished products to 20 per cent, which was a move towards providing level playing filed, lot more is required to be done," said IEEMA officials.

"Initially the duties on raw materials were more than on finished products making it the competition biased towards importers. While the government has made a move in this front, a lots more needs to be done in term of bringing down the duties on both raw materials and finished products in a balanced manner providing us a level playing field," an IEEMA official said.

Talking about the growth prospects of the industry, the official said that the segment which was around Rs 40,000 crore last year was expected to grow at 15 per cent in 2004-05 and for the next couple of years.

The rise in demand would fuel the growth expected which would in turn be propelled by the large power projects announced by the public sector power companies as well as the government's plan to set up large power capacities in the next few years, they said.