Smartphones in India will get more expensive as tax will rise from 12% to 18%

16 March 2020
Various industry representatives have stated that this will have a hugely negative impact on manufacturers, retailers and the people.

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And what are they gonna do with that money?

    Anonymous, 17 Mar 2020exactly man , im also indian i left the country for abroad ... more100% agree. You hear them demand for OIS, OLED, 120Hz, SD865, Gorilla 6, ultra high fast charging, 6000 mAh, Stereo speakers, 6+ GB or RAM, 128+ GB of ROM, IR blaster, even possibly refrigerator (lol), but refuse to pay the quoted price and curs the manufacturers.

    I loathe people that don't know and refuse to know while claiming that they do. I detest people with inflated sense of entitlement. No group of people whine more than these people.

      govt is fooling ppl they dont know a damn thing especially that finance minister. suppose i'm buying a flagship for around 33k so'll to pay around 6k in taxes thats' shitty aint it. and i do have flagship phone real me x2 pro made in india and do not change my phone until 2 yrs of usage.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • Nu6
        • 17 Mar 2020

        NJ, 17 Mar 2020As always the government's main target is middle class peop... moreDemonatization

          This is already a loss. IF companies can't keep-up, they'll lay-off workers just to compensate. Unfortunately, it's the lower class of the society were the ones to suffer with these tax increase.

            This move typically done to prevent higher dollar rates due to heavy imports by various government in the past through excise duties etc...now we need to carefully check if this is in addition to the duties levied on imports or if this measure is to offset the potential revenue loss due to future excise duty reduction to give level playing field for all OEMs!

              CompactPhones5ever, 17 Mar 2020"#GST increase for phones form 12% to 18% will crumble the ... moreIf businesses are forced to take losses in order to compete then the entire industry will suffer - manufacturers, retailers, consumers. This is exactly what Manu Kumar Jain means by "crumble the industry". Look at what is happening to Mobile service providers Airtel, Idea, Vodaphone. because they were taking losses, now we are facing internet rates going as high as 10x of current rates.
              Its the Govt.'s responsibility to ensure growth of industry through appropriate policy decisions where no one suffers.

                At a time where everyone is dependent on the internet and in a country like India where an enormous number of people only have smartphones as a way to access the internet, increase in prices means people won't upgrade their phones quicker and thus will miss out on new features and security.
                Internet rates have been increasing too, not to mention might increase up to 10x. this will make India go backwards.

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                  • Mark Powell
                  • utU
                  • 17 Mar 2020

                  Adul Al Salami Kebab, 17 Mar 2020Remember this govt did try to remove cash, that was a total... moreDo you have an idea? Removing cash? Lol
                  Govt needs tax, be it any Govt in the world. Nobody tried removing cash. Lol. Digital payments after the introduction of UPI and Demonatization move are on rise in India. Even small businesses are accepting digital payments in India. Last year I went to India and I saw that in almost all outlets, be it small or large, accepted digital payments. It's definitely not a failure.

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                    • Adul Al Salami Kebab
                    • pcL
                    • 17 Mar 2020

                    vibhor119, 17 Mar 2020Illiterate are the person who are blaming govt.... Stop ta... moreRemember this govt did try to remove cash, that was a total failure so that some people think they are not the smartest around is not that surprising... But yeah this tax increase is nothing really, I would much rather look at this as a chance for Micromax and Yu to make their stuff more competitive against the Chinese giants... UwU

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                      • ThePhone
                      • xZI
                      • 17 Mar 2020

                      MagicMonkeyBoy, 16 Mar 2020I do hope that India may lower taxes. Or at least raise the... moreOh I just realized you're from India. Quite surprising actually. No wonder trolling iPhones because they're seriously overpriced in India. And you now want lower tax when smartphones are already cheap enough. Be thankful because neighbouring countries (Pakistan and Iran) has more restricted smartphone supply and higher taxes. SE Asia (except Singapore) also has higher tax rates. No wonder your garbage arguments and comments have shown up all over the place. Gov't don't need to consider lowering taxes anymore as even their work standards are somewhat poor.

                      Not telling you to buy expensive phones as it's your option, but really, get a life.

                        vibhor119, 17 Mar 2020Economy growing WTH you are talking about... People will... moreYeah sure, Mr. knows everything. If Xiaomi CEO already telling that it will impact its chains and will impact economy, you know better right? People will buy, but by less and economy will suffer eventual smartass.

                          MagicMonkeyBoy, 16 Mar 2020I do hope that India may lower taxes. Or at least raise the... moreIn India almost every manufacturer has set up their manufacturing plants that's why the cost is cheaper than that of other countries
                          And strange thing is that people are complaining(the ones who change their phones every 6 months)...
                          .
                          Every country has higher tax rate than us

                            vivek, 17 Mar 2020This is an illiterate govt.. They don't understand economic... moreIlliterate are the person who are blaming govt....
                            Stop talking this sh*t
                            People buying phones every 6 months
                            It means they got the money to throw in the garbage....
                            If a smarphone price is revised around 500-600 no one will stop buying that...
                            Get some knowledge
                            Chamcha

                              Hello Life, 17 Mar 2020Our govt sucks... Absolutely.. trying everything to stop ou... moreEconomy growing
                              WTH you are talking about...
                              People will never stop buying they have the money to buy smartphones every single year....
                              And you are saying this decision is bad...

                                "#GST increase for phones form 12% to 18% will crumble the industry."

                                No, it will not crumble the industry, the manufacturers will just be forced to offer more for the customers, either keep the prices and take the losses themselves or actually start upgrading their products, instead of revamping the last gen (see Redmi Note 8 Pro vs Redmi Note 9 Pro... Basically just different design) - they won't get away with it this time, why should I pity them?

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • X%p
                                  • 17 Mar 2020

                                  Good, most Indians are really ungrateful, having great options like Realme X2 and Redmi K20 for around $200, Poco F1 for even cheaper and still so many complaints, most countries have shit phones for that price with like 75% of the capabilities and features of those phones

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                                    • NJ
                                    • ypc
                                    • 17 Mar 2020

                                    As always the government's main target is middle class people. Won't let us live a peaceful life. Unemployment is the biggest issue this country is facing and the govt is less bothered.

                                      • r
                                      • rocker91
                                      • atg
                                      • 17 Mar 2020

                                      [deleted post]true mate , everything is heavily subsidised in india . water , electricity ,gas , education . heck many state government even run free ration shops which gives free gorcery , cooking essentials and vegetables besides free public transport . people dont like to pay taxes but want everything for free ,also they want india to be like america or britain but they dont know that an americans and europeans pay a huge chunk of their income as taxes and dont get any of these freebies. exchange rate of indian currency has fallen significantly yet many phone companies sells their phones at a lower rate in india compared to global market.

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • atg
                                        • 17 Mar 2020

                                        AnIndianMobileUser, 16 Mar 2020I'm Indian and I can tell you this that, people here are re... moreexactly man , im also indian i left the country for abroad in 2015 , at a time when smartphone scene was not that great there and xiaomi was only popular among tech community and always out of stock , i have to save upto 25k inr for buy an overpriced crappy samsung j series phone then.Middle class indians could only ogle and drool at iphone or expensive samsung flaghsips then. chinese companies start to offer flagship grade phones for under 20k. I felt really sad when i saw indians cursing xiaomi and realme ceo , i mean those two brands are offering top tier specs which a middle class indian could not imagine of 5 years ago for under 20k . now many idiots are complaining about their 10k phone not having 120hz refresh rate , amoled display and gaming performance of iphone 11 pro . like seriously, even galaxy note 10 plus which i currently own dont have 120hz refresh rate and im not whinging about it. If chinese companies where not there , indian would have been still happy spending 20 k for samsung phone with 2gb ram and outdated specs.