Smartphone prices in India are expected to increase further as the Indian government has now imposed a 10 percent import duty on display and touch panels, according to a new report. This move is aided by the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign in an effort to push local manufacturing. This move will have an effect on major smartphone brands, including Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo and Realme. The actual import duty comes to 11 percent thanks to the additional cess and this might result in a price hike ranging between 1.5 percent and 5 percent on smartphones, the companies said. Smartphone display and touch panels account for 15-20 percent of the cost of a device.
The latest move could hit the smartphone demand ahead of the festive season, according to The Times of India citing sources. The government has said that this is the right time to impose a duty on display panels as this is one of the key elements in the phased-manufacturing programme (PMP) for mobile phones, the report added. The move to impose a duty on display and touch panels was originally planned to come into effect from April 2019 but was pushed back as the government wanted to give component manufacturers time to set up base in the country. There are around four companies that manufacture panels in the country, including TCL and Holitech.
As per an earlier report by The Economic Times, even prices of battery packs have been increased. “So phones priced below Rs 5,000 could see a difference of Rs 150-200 while higher-value phones above Rs 25,000 could see a cost increase between Rs 380-400,” Noour Ali Zehgeer, Global Sales Director, of Hong Kong-based brand Nuu Mobiles told ET.
A few OEMs have said that smartphone prices can go up immediately, while other brands are finding ways to absorb the losses as much as possible caused by the duty hike, the report stated. However, the names of these brands are under wraps. We may start noticing the price hikes with upcoming smartphone launches expected this month and in November ahead of the festive season.
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