To pump up Make in India, custom duty on LCD and LED television panels slashed

New Delhi, March 25: In a bid to boost local manufacturing, the Centre has cut the customs duty on Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and Light Emitting Diode (LED) TV panels by half to 5%. In Union Budget, the government had doubled the customs duty on imported LCD and LED TV panels to 15% from 7.5%.

India’s import bill on electronic goods stood at `25,942.92 crore in February this year, up by 14.16 per cent from February last year. In fact, this is what triggered the government to impose 15 per cent duty on import of LCD panels.

According to TV manufacturers, the flat panel constitutes over half the cost of a TV set. As there is no big flat panel manufacturing unit in India, TV manufacturers are solely dependent on imports from mainly China and Taiwan.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had announced the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme to give incentives to firms setting up manufacturing units in India.