Centre rolls out customs duty relief on inputs to boost electronic goods production
New Delhi, July 9
The government has rolled out more customs duty relief to lower the cost of importing a wide range of components and capital goods used to produce electronic goods such as smartphones and lithium-ion battery manufacturing, in order to promote domestic production of finished products.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued three separate notifications to roll out the customs duty waiver and expand the list of goods eligible for concessional duty.
The government's has issued a notification exempting five components used in manufacturing display assemblies for automotive, medical and industrial applications from basic customs duty until March 31, 2029. These include cells, flexible printed circuit assemblies (FPCAs), backlight units, frames and anisotropic conductive film (ACF).
The exemption, however, does not cover display assemblies for mobile phones, smartwatches, smart meters, television panels and interactive flat-panel displays.
A separate notification has been issued to extended zero customs duty until March 31, 2029, on six components used in manufacturing inductor coil modules for wireless charging in cellular mobile phones. These include nano-crystalline assemblies, E-shields, PET liners, PC shims, stranded and NFC coils, and neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.
The third CBIC notification has been issued for replacing the existing list of machinery eligible for concessional customs duty for lithium-ion cell manufacturing with an expanded list of 85 capital goods.
The revised list includes coating machines, winding machines, welding systems, testing equipment, formation machines, drying systems and other specialised manufacturing equipment used across the lithium-ion cell production process. The move aims to improve cost competitiveness and support domestic value addition in electronics and electric vehicles.
The duty waivers and concessions, which are valid until March 31, 2029, aim to reduce the import cost of critical components and capital goods, which will improve cost competitiveness, encourage greater domestic value addition. This reinforces the government's broader strategy of building domestic capabilities in advanced electronics, battery manufacturing and electric mobility supply chains.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Finally, some good news for Make in India. But I'm skeptical—will this really help us compete with China? They have a massive head start in supply chain and cost. Also, why is mobile phone display assembly excluded? That's where the real volume is. Feels like a half-measure. Still, better than nothing I suppose.
As someone in the electronics manufacturing sector, this is a welcome step. The duty waiver on those 85 capital goods for Li-ion battery production is a game-changer. Domestic cell manufacturing is crucial for EV adoption, and this will bring down costs significantly. However, I hope the government also focuses on R&D incentives—just importing machinery isn't enough. We need innovation too.
Interesting policy from India. As an outsider, it looks like they're trying to replicate the China model but with more targeted incentives. The issue is execution—India's bureaucracy can sometimes slow things down. But the 2029 timeline gives industry some certainty. Let's see if global companies actually set up manufacturing here.
Good for industry, but what about the common man? These duty waivers rarely translate to cheaper phones for us. Companies will pocket the savings. Plus, we need to ensure that domestic manufacturing creates jobs, not just assembly lines. Skill development should go hand in hand with these policies. Otherwise, it's just cheaper imports in a different form.
This is the kind of policy that will make India an attractive destination for global electronics giants. The exemption for automotive display components is particularly smart—it aligns with
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