Customs duty hiked for Mobiles, TVs, micros
01 Feb 2018
In a move that will make mobile handsets in the country more expensive, finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget 2018 on Thursday and announced a 5-per cent hike in Customs duty on mobile phones. "Customs duty on mobile phones hiked to 20 per cent from 15 per cent," Jaitley announced.
The rise in customs duty was expected after Union Budget 2018, Times Now points out. This will mean that the prices of premium smartphones in particular will go up. The hike in Customs duty comes barely a few weeks after Customs duty was raised to 15 per cent for mobile phones.
On 16 December 2017, a notification issued by the Department of Revenue under the finance ministry confirmed that the customs duty will go up from 10 per cent to 15 per cent for mobile handsets. This means that the customs duty on mobile phones have been revised twice from 10 per cent to 20 per cent within two months.
Smartphone makers who are import-dependent will have to bear the brunt of this decision.
Previously, the Customs duty on television sets and microwave ovens was also increased from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. Moreover, the customs duty on video recording equipment and television cameras was also raised from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
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