New Delhi, Jan 17 (TIWN) Ahead of the Union Budget 2022-23, the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on Monday urged the government to rationalise tariffs on inputs for parts and components of mobile phones and revisit basic customs duty on high-end mobile phones.

In its wish list for the forthcoming union budget, the ICEA has sought a roll-back of goods and services tax (GST) to 12 per cent from the current slab of 18 per cent, saying that it is a deterrent for domestic market growth and is also preventing adoption of mobile phones by disadvantaged sections in rural India.  ICEA chairman Pankaj Mohindroo in a letter to the ministry of electronics and IT said that the PLI scheme offers an incentive for meeting partial cost disability for manufacturing in India compared to other countries such as China and Vietnam that existed before January, 2020. 

"Post the change in the duty structure in the union budgets for financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22 the cost disability gap has increased further. Increasing tariffs on inputs will lead to serious impact on the cost structures of PLI approved companies, rendering their product uncompetitively priced for global markets," Mr Mohindroo said.  Samsung and Apple's contract manufacturers are the biggest investors under the PLI scheme and both these brands dominate mobile phone exports from India.