If you¡®ve been wondering why smartphones have gotten pricier over the past few months, that¡¯s something you may not have to worry about anymore.
Thanks to changes in import duties on manufacturing hardware, smartphones should get up to 10 percent cheaper soon.
The Indian finance ministry issued a note, exempting 35 capital goods from customs duty. Basically, that means essential hardware used to build smartphone components are now cheaper to import. Specifically, that includes things like PCB coating machines, as well as hardware used to manufacture lithium-ion batteries, speakers and receivers, and data cables etc.?
¡°Basic duty on the 35 items which currently range from 7.5 to 10 percent is now fully exempted. IGST will be applicable on the imports but this can be set off against GST,¡± says Pankaj Mohindroo, national president of the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association.
This essentially means companies setting up factories here in India will find it cheaper to import quality manufacturing hardware, therefore reducing the expenditure they have to offset when they begin production. Hopefully, that should translate to cheaper devices on the market for us, though only for those joining in the ¡°Make in India¡± initiative.?