January 28, 2015: The IT industry in India is looking for government’s backing to do away with the 4 per cent of duty that is imposed on electronic components imported from outside India. The reason being that the duty is become counter productive.
While speaking to IANS, Anwar Shirpurwala, executive director, Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT) said that the they would like to make certain recommendations among which one is the removal of Special Additional Duty (SAD) levied at the rate of four per cent o electronic components which are imported in the country. He said that currently the import of finished goods is cheaper that the import of electronic components.
Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology is the leading body of IT hardware industry in India.
MAIT has also sent few budget recommendations to the government and it has mentioned that if SAD is removed, it will address the inverted duty structure and will also equally place a domestic manufacturer with trader with regard to customs duty. The recommendations also read that it will create a fair atmosphere and will also make way for manufacturing of ITA (Information Technology Agreement) products in the country.
Information Technology Agreement, which is governed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) guarantees no-tariff or zero-tariff and duty-free trading of numerous products.