GST hike on mobile phones will be detrimental for local manufacturing: ICEA

New Delhi: Hiking GST on mobile phones will be detrimental for consumer sentiment and in turn impact local manufacturing, industry body ICEA said. In a letter to the finance ministry, the mobile handsets and electronics industry body said the sector is already under deep stress because of disruption in the supply chain due to the coronavirus outbreak.

It is a very inappropriate time to consider hike in GST rate of mobile phones from the current level of 12 per cent, it added.

“We understand that one of the logic being put forward is that the industry is suffering from inverted GST! Instead of correcting this wrong by rationalising GST on parts, components and inputs of mobile phones, a bizarre move to increase GST on the final product is now being considered,” ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said in the letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.