India's import tariffs on handsets increased from 10% to 15%, making it more expensive to import handsets, including most iPhone models, which are slowing revenue growth in the Indian smartphone market, Reached 10 billion U.S. dollars.
Indian Prime Minister Modi has launched an 'Made in India' program to expand its domestic industrial base, one of which has already demonstrated its success as an electronic product.
Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of the Indian Mobile Phone Association, said on Friday that higher import duties would benefit domestic makers, with Indian makers producing about 500 million handsets a year, more than double those three years ago Data from Counterpoint Research, a market research firm, shows that in 2017, eight out of every 10 handsets sold in India were produced locally.
Most of the smartphones Samsung currently sells in India are locally produced.Apple only makes iPhone SE models in India and imports other models.Apple has been seeking to obtain a series of concessions and tax credits from the Indian government to expand the Indian manufacturing business, But Indian government officials said they are unlikely to give Apple immunity.
Tarun Pathak, deputy director at Counterpoint, said the Indian government's new import tax rules have the most impact on handset companies that rely on imports.
"Apple was the most affected as 88% of the company's equipment sold in India relied on imports," he said. "It either led to an iPhone price hike or forced Apple to start producing more equipment in India."
In addition to cell phones, India also raised its import duty on cameras from 10% to 15% and the import duty on television from 10% to 20%. On Monday, a delegation of Indian telecom equipment makers met with Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, seeking government assistance to promote the domestic industry, is preparing to set the 2018/2019 budget.
India's policy makers worried about India's imports in the seven months to October, up 22% from a year earlier to 256.4 billion U.S. dollars.