India has increased the import tax on dozens of electronic products, including mobile phones and television sets.
The Indian government made the announcement on Thursday aiming to reduce supplies from overseas and build up the domestic industry.
The rise in tax from 10 per cent to 15 per cent on handsets will make imports of phones, including most of Apple’s iPhone models, more expensive.
Indian Cellular Association President Pankaj Mohindroo said on Friday the tax hike will boost domestic manufacturers who are making about 500 million cellphones a year.
Indian researcher Tarun Pathak said the new tax notification will impact mobile phones companies heavily dependent on imports.
“It will impact Apple the most as the company imports 88 per cent of its devices into India,” he said.
“Either this will lead to increase in iPhone prices or force Apple to start assembling more in India,” Tarun Pathak said.
The Indian government also raised the import tax on video cameras to 15 per cent from 10 per cent and doubled the one on television sets 20 per cent.
A delegation of Indian telecoms equipment manufacturers met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. They sought government help to promote the domestic industry while he prepares the budget for 2018/19.
India’s goods imports in the seven months ending October rose 22 perc ent to $256.4 billion from a year earlier, raising concerns among policymakers.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a flagship Make-in-India program to expand the domestic industrial base, and one of the areas showing success is electronics.
Eight out of 10 phones sold in 2017 have been made locally, data from Counterpoint Research showed.
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) assembles in India most of the handsets it sells in the country.
According to Reuters, Apple currently only assembles its iPhone SE models in India and imports its others.
The company has sought a range of incentives and tax relief from the government for it to expand its manufacturing in India.
But government officials have said they are unlikely to make exemptions for Apple.
