TV cos may stop making in India, turn to zero-duty FTA imports

Kolkata: More television makers will cut down local manufacturing and instead explore options to import TVs at zero duty through the FTA route with the government not reducing 5% import duty on open cell television panels in the budget, industry executives said.

Import of finished TV sets from countries with which India has free trade agreement (FTA) leads to net savings of around 5%, they said.
Sony has started sourcing of televisions from Thailand through the FTA route and moved some locally produced models to Malaysia, three senior industry executives.

The Japanese company, which focuses on premium and large screen models, is also considering Vietnam as a market for sourcing televisions through the FTA route, they said.