Industry & Economy
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Consumer Electronics
Zero customs duty on set-top boxes to benefit manufacturers
Our Bureau
New Delhi
,
Feb. 28
The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram today removed customs duty on imported set-top boxes (STBs) while levying 16 per cent excise duty on the same.
According to the broadcasting industry, this would benefit direct-to-home operators. Mr Jawahar Goel, Head of Siticable said, "There is a move towards digitisation of the broadcasting sector, but we will have to see the fine print for the real impact."
The industry is not sure which way STB prices would go. A section feels that cheaper imports would flood the market and kill local manufacturing. But Mr Gopal Srinivasan, Director, TVS Electronics said, "We are happy that the Finance Minister has given an incentive for local manufacture of convergence products such as set-top boxes. Earlier, the import duty was 15 per cent and zero excise duty. Now, with zero import duty and 16 per cent excise, domestic manufacturers would benefit."
Meanwhile, Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice-Chairman, Bharti Enterprises said, "While we are still working out the prices, I feel that it would go up by at least 10 per cent. This impact on prices will be the same on imported and locally manufactured set-top boxes because of countervailing duty (CVD)." Bharti's base model set-top boxes are currently available at Rs 3,000-3,500.
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