India needs to lower tariffs on smartphone components : ICEA

New Delhi: The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on Wednesday released a study of tariffs on smartphone input components and which found that India has the highest tariffs amongst six other manufacturing competitors.

Unless India can match China and Vietnam’s competitive tariff regime in addition to other factors which impact competitiveness, export growth will also start seeing a slowdown beyond the current fiscal, revealed the report.

The study carried out by the premier electronics manufacturing industry body across seven countries, further underlines that the high tariff rates lead to increased costs, making it difficult for companies to join Global Value Chains (GVCs), ultimately reducing India’s competitiveness among other countries.