Union Budget 2023: Made-in-India smartphones, TVs to get cheaper

The govt is planning to boost the production of smartphones and TVs in India by incentivizing manufacturers. In the Union Budget 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the govt plans to provide some relief to both smartphone and TV makers by reducing customs duty on some key components.

In the budget speech, Sitharaman claimed that mobile phone production in India has increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at over Rs 2,75,000 crore in the last financial year. To further increase production, the govt will reduce customs duty on import of certain parts as well the camera components of the phone. The relaxation in customs duty for lithium-ion cells will also be retained for another year. 

In the budget speech Sitharaman said, "As a result of various initiatives of the Government, including the Phased Manufacturing programme, mobile phone production in India has increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about ` 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at over ` 2,75,000 crore in the last financial year. To further deepen domestic value addition in manufacture of mobile phones, I  propose to provide relief in customs duty on import of certain parts and inputs like camera lens and continue the concessional duty on lithium-ion cells for batteries for another year."

For TVs, the government will promote manufacturing by reducing the basic customs duty on parts of open cells of TV panels to 2.5 percent.

Reacting positively to the initiative of the Indian government, Prabhu Ram, Head - Industry Intelligence Group, CyberMedia Research (CMR), said, "The reduction in customs duty on import of certain component parts for mobile phones is a welcome move, and will provide further impetus to deepen the domestic value addition, and in furthering the development of electronics components ecosystem in India."