• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Ravinder Zutshi

The recommendation of a cut in excise duty of colour televisions and monitors has not been met.

Budget 2006 should fuel economic growth based on the focus on education, rural employment, agriculture and infrastructure. While no incentives have been given for the manufacturing sector, the Government has tried to protect domestic manufacturing by imposing the 4 per cent CVD on all imports, especially in view of import categories falling under the purview of FTA with Thailand.

The Budget could have a major impact on the consumer electronics sector. It will provide some relief to the industry in the form of marginal import duty cuts on steel and plastics. However, I do not foresee any changes in prices of major consumer electronics and home appliances products that are manufactured in the country.Prices of high-end products, on the other hand, that are being imported, such as LCD, plasma, side by side refrigerators, note PCs are likely to go up on account of the 4 per cent CVD imposition on all imports, which is more than the 2.5 per cent cut on Peak Customs duty.

There is also a sense of disappointment in that the industry's recommendation of a cut in excise duty of colour televisions and colour monitors has not been met.

One of the demands of the industry was that the duty structure of consumer electronics hardware be brought on a par with IT hardware, which also has not been met in this Budget. The increase in service tax will also have an impact on the overall costs of doing business.

We welcome the Government's decision to remove the FBT on celebrity endorsements.Overall, the Budget has not brought any major relief to the consumer electronics sector.

(The author is Deputy Managing Director, Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd.)

More Stories on : Budget | Television Sets | Excise and Customs

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Two Cs and two Ds make four As

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line