Smartphone price hiked in India: The most in-demand gadget is a smartphone. Imagine life without it is merely impossible. But this increase in smartphone price in India has not only hit the Indian distributor market but along with this, it has disturbed the working of manufacturing companies. This increased price has resulted in decreased demand for smartphones which has further decreased its production. This period under which the entire world is already suffering through economic imbalance due to Coronavirus spread. Such an announcement of price increase has hit the Indian platform of Make in India. This decision might be a dent to the Indian economic model.
Union finance and corporate minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 6% increase in GST from 12% to 18% on smartphones and its specific parts which is going to come to practice from 1st April. This GST over Smartphone components has been made due to the pandemic COVID-19 and due to fluctuations in the value of rupee against the dollar. This step has been taken in the wake to balance the deteriorating economy of the nation.
After the announcement of this GST increase by the government, various smartphone company owners and various political and financial analysts came up with their views over it. Xiaomi India head and Global Vice President Manu Kumar Jain said that “the move will crumble the industry, this increase in GST will affect the smartphone industry’s Make in India efforts”. He continued by saying that “the industry is already reeling from the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar as well as supply chain disruption due to coronavirus“. He has urged the government to reconsider their decision and get lenient in this time of difficulty.
Director of brand strategy Vivo India said: “We are still evaluating the impact of the new tax structure and will be making a decision in the next few weeks.”
CIAT National secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said “The decision is highly unwarranted, deplorable and will destabilize mobile trade in India, which is already facing a battle for survival on online platforms. Instead of providing relief, the mobile sector is burdened with an unnecessary hike.”
Due to shut things are already in a worse condition. Markets are shut, supply is stagnant, in the midst of it if this price hike comes into play then the market will suffer more than it is suffering at present this is what analysts say.
To sum up, about this hike I would say that at times decisions made, appear random to us but if the central government has taken an initiative in some direction it might have hidden benefits in it. It’s just a matter of time and patience that we need to contribute to our government.