Govt levies 10 pc import duty on key smartphone components

The government today imposed a 10 per cent duty on import of key smartphone components like camera module and printed circuit board assembly, with a view to boost domestic manufacturing.

Earlier in the Budget 2018-19, the government had hiked customs duty on mobile phones to 20 per cent from 15 per cent.

Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla today tabled notification documents in this regard in the Lok Sabha which seek to "withdraw exemption from basic customs duty (BCD) on printed circuit board assembly, camera module and connectors of cellular mobile phones and impose 10 per cent BCD on them...".

At present there is zero import duty imposed on the three components.

In another notification, the revenue department has increased the basic import duty on populated, loaded or stuffed printed circuit boards, related to telephones (including mobile phones) from nil to 10 per cent.

India is now the second largest mobile phone producer in the world after China, as per information shared by the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Government's flagship 'Make In India' programme along with specific incentives are aimed at bolstering domestic manufacturing of IT and electronic products.

According to data shared by the ICA, India accounted for 11 per cent of global mobile production in 2017 compared to 3 per cent in 2014.

India replaced Vietnam to become the second largest producer of mobile phones in 2017.

With the rise in mobile phone production, imports of the devices in the country also reduced to less than half in 2017-18.

The government has already imposed 15 per cent import duty on chargers, battery, headset, speaker, microphone, keypad etc as per phased manufacturing programme (PMP).

The PMP is aimed at boosting indigenous production of mobile phones by providing tax relief and other incentives on components and accessories used for the devices.