Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) has announced its extension by forming a Mobiles and Communications council to advocate on the mobility industry. CEAMA is an all India body of manufacturers of Televisions, Entertainment Electronic Products & Home Appliances and acts as a catalyst in the promotion of Industry, trade, technology and entrepreneurship.
The Mobiles and Communications council will strive to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas between the member telecom equipment and mobile manufacturers. The council in collaboration with other industry associations will present an industry consensus view to the Government on crucial issues pertaining to the growth and development of the Indian mobility industry from its existing scenario.
The introduction of this new committee shall support the Government’s initiative to promote manufacturing in India. The Smartphones segment is growing at a phenomenal rate in the country and there is a huge scope of bringing out synergies between Consumers Durables with handset Industries in the near future.
In the recent Union budget, the Government has levied Basic Customs Duty, Countervailing Duty and Special Additional Duty on Charger/Adapter, Battery and Wired headsets/speakers. At present the domestic mobile manufacturer pays 29% as customs duty on these accessories and 2% levy in respect of populated PCBs, whereas on the other hand importers of mobile CBU have to pay only 12.5% on the same inputs. The above items constitute about 10% to 30% of the cost of mobile manufacturing depending upon the nature of the mobile hand set. This impact is being felt by all major manufacturers and such anomalies will adversely affect the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
The CEAMA – Mobile and Communications Council will dedicate itself to assist member firms in raising the issues, enabling formulation of suitable policies to incentivize growth of the industry. Therefore, as an industry body CEAMA believes that the manufacturers should prepare for the above change and able to set up manufacturing facilities, to manufacture the mobile parts & accessories to support and promote Make in India initiative.
Manish Sharma President CEAMA and Managing Director Panasonic India & South Asia said, “The local component ecosystem is still not fully in place, resulting into dependency on international machineries and mechanisms. Therefore, the Industry should be given an opportunity to build the ecosystem and encourage the initiatives being taken in this area. We believe the new Mobile and Communication council will appropriately connect and able to propagate the recommendations of industry players to government and policy makers. CEAMA along with other industry players are working to ensure that majority of components be made domestically, which will need time and further encouragement by the government to make this happen.“
Sharing his views Ravinder Zutshi, Chairman, CEAMA – Mobile and Communications Council said, “It’s a great move by CEAMA’s President by proposing to create a Mobile and Communications Council, which gets an approval from EC members. As the Chairman of the council, I believe that together with our stakeholders we will create value addition for the mobile manufacturers in the country. The council will strive to facilitate formation of an ecosystem that provides a nurturing policy, regulatory and legal framework for the industry.
