Hike in import duties on components of mobile devices may nix PLI benefits

High component cost may push up mobile prices by 18%

The repeated increase in the import duties on key components of mobile devices may neutralise the benefits of the government’s ambitious and much-touted production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) for mobile phones.

The success of the PLI scheme is key to the government meeting its ambitious target of hitting $250 billion in the production value of electronics by 2025-26. Mobile devices are a large part of this plan, with the government aiming for a mobile phone manufacturing target of $110 billion by 2025-26 — nearly 3.7 times of what it has undertaken in 2020-21.    

However, research conducted by the India Cellular