Union Budget 2018: Govt raises customs duty on mobile phones from 15% to 20%

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced the Union Budget 2018-19 in which he proposed to increase the customs duty on mobiles phones from 15% to 20%, 15% on some of their parts and accessories, and on certain parts of TVs to 15%. The import tax on mobile phones was at 6% back in 2014, later it was increased to 10% in July, and to 15% in December. This increase of 5% in import tax will seriously affect brands that are yet to establish their plants in India. With Apple is importing most iPhone models except for the SE, the prices are expected to go up as it did a couple of months back when the import duty was increased from 10% to 15%.  Arun Jaitley's motive behind the increase in import tax is to promote creation of more jobs in the country and according to him this will make the domestic items cheaper than imported ones and will generate more demand thus creating more employment at a large scale. Though Apple's Wistron Corp manufacturer is on the verge of closing a land deal, it will be while before everything takes shape. In the meantime, the new import tax is said to affect the current pricing. On ...