A ministry has proposed to impose 30-32 per cent tax on the import of computer and laptop to facilitate developing domestic industry, sources said.
The Ministry of Telecommunication and ICT has put forward the recommendation to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Ministry of Finance to discourage imports and encourage local manufacturing and assembling of the devices.
The proposal also included providing a 5.0 per cent tax incentive to the local manufacturers and zero tax on the import of basic parts.
Talking to the FE, telecommunication minister Mustafa Jabbar said that it is possible to manufacture computers and laptops locally if proper fiscal policy could be offered to the manufacturers.
"We had proposed earlier and also proposing this year to impose this tax structure from the fiscal year 2021-22," he said.
The minister said that a number of world reputed companies were ready set up factories here if the country offers these tax benefits for the computer and laptop manufacturing companies here.
The government had introduced budgetary incentives for the local manufacturing and assembling of handsets in the fiscal year 2017-2018 and carried it forward to the FYs 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
As a result, a total of 11 brands including global smartphone vendors Samsung, Symphony, Oppo, Realm started production here.
Nokia along with some other players are also going to join the market soon.
These brands produce 85 per cent of the smartphones in the local market and meet 55 per cent of local demand for both smartphones and feature phones.
According to the BTRC, the number of handsets manufactured and imported in the country in FY 2019-20 was 29.48 million units.
Of which, 16.21 million units were manufactured locally by the 11 companies and 13.27 million units were imported.
The minister said the country now has the capacity to manufacture and assemble locally. He said one local company now manufactures and assembles laptop successfully and exports.
"So, it is possible for others too," he said, expressing the hope that the government in the upcoming budget would adopt the proposed tax structure.
Walton is currently marketing 23 models of laptops, 13 models of desktops, 4 models of monitors along with various models of gaming and standard keyboard and mouse, pen drives, and earphones. The price of Walton laptops ranges between Tk19,990 and Tk79,950.
Walton, after assembling at its plant, exports laptops to Nigeria, Bhutan, Nepal and some other countries. The company has an annual target of selling 100,000 units of laptops while it produces pen drives, keyboards and mouse at its plant.
Currently, there is no tax on the import of computer which was introduced in 1998.
