Union Budget 2017: Handset Manufacturers Give Positive Reactions

With the announcement of Union Budget 2017 – the Government of India has emphasized on its commitment towards its ongoing Make in India campaign – handset manufacturers have given their positive reactions to the announcements.

Commenting on the 2% increase in duty on PCBs, Narendra Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director, Intex Technologies said, “This is a very marginal increase and will have NO impact on the consumer for two main reasons: First, the increase is so miniscule that Brands will absorb this impact and will not pass it on to the consumer. Second, globally and in India, prices of Mobiles are coming down and every month cheaper handsets are making their debut in the market. In such a scenario, in future too, prices of mobiles will keep falling continuously with the result that this increase in duty will get mitigated by the low cost of the handsets.”

Vivek Zhang, CMO, Vivo India, said, “The move by the government to impose 2% customs duty on import of printed circuit boards for manufacture of mobile phones might initially result in a hike in the cost of smartphones. However, in the long run it will give a boost to governments’ efforts in pushing the Make in India campaign. Over the course of time, we can expect complete manufacturing of smartphones in the country by major players in India.

Vivo, a global brand has its own manufacturing plant in India and is already in line with PM Modi's Make in India campaign.”

Expressing his opinion on the budget announcements, Peter Chang, Region Head – South Asia & Country Manager for ASUS India said, “The budget gave the smartphone industry a lot to look forward to in the coming year. Government’s thrust on digitization through its push on Aadhaar-enabled payments will provide impetus to the demand of mobile phones in the country. The BHIM app has already been adopted by 125 lakh people and government’s plans to introduce two new schemes to promote its use will make the concept of a cashless society and digital currency, a reality. In addition to this, proposed extension of the OFC network to 1,50,000 gram panchayats for high speed broadband connectivity and rollout of 4G in the country will create a more digitally inclusive society. The budget was also conducive to promoting domestic manufacturing of electronics. With a provision of INR 745 crores in 2017-18 in incentive schemes like M-SIPS and EDF, manufacturing of smartphones in India should see a boost. We now look forward to the successful rollout of GST this year. Besides achieving standardization of taxation levels and making interstate movement of goods easier, it should also help sellers achieve similar selling prices. This coupled with all the other initiatives will enable us to bring more people under the digital umbrella.”

Arvind R Vohra, Country CEO & MD, Gionee India said, “We are positive, that the Government’s increased allocation and incentives in schemes like M-SIPS and EDF will provide the necessary push to the mobile and internet manufacturing economy. Also the allocation of INR 10,000 crore in BharatNet provides the much needed boost for the penetration of Digital India into the rural segment, and for strengthening the consumptions of smartphones."

Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairman, Optiemus Infracom, explained, “We welcome the Government for presenting a progressive budget. Government’s agenda for 2017-18 is “Transform, Energise and Clean India”, with impetus on digital Economy, access to public services, and financial inclusion. Smartphones play a key role in realizing digital India agenda catalyzing the mobile economy. The government had introduced a slew of measures to drive digital transactions for speed, accountability and transparency.

Manufacturing continues to be one of the top focuses area for the government and accordingly the union budget 2017 bodes well for the industry. The government has exponentially increased the allocation and incentives of schemes like M-SIPS and EDF to Rs745 crore in 2017-18, which is an all-time high. This reflects government’s focus on making India a global hub for electronic manufacturing. We expect this to increase economy activities, drive innovations and create more jobs.”

Sanjeev Bhatia, CEO Zopo India, said, "The budget 2017 is extremely positive and people friendly. Reduction in direct taxes for SMEs & low income individuals is definitely going to benefit the masses and will really impact the Indian economy in a huge way. The GST is proposed to implement on July 1st, so indirect taxes such as, excise, customs, service tax have not been touched. Manufacturing allocation is good initiative to start off. With such initiatives India can grow on the charts of GDP.

In the direction of making India a Digital nation a needful decision was made, with the focus rightly on digital India the budget also gave boost to telecom and manufacturing sector through Digital India. Modernization is good for any nation, for a successful and powerful nation fast growth can only be reached with the help of technology. Those portions of India that are deprived from the fruits of technology will now be able to enjoy it.

Government's mission to connect 1,50,000 gram panchayats with hotspots and digitization will increase the use of technology and will create a friendly environment for digital payment system. No doubt Smartphone will play a crucial role in strengthening Indian economy. In today’s world technology and smartphones go hand in hand this step will lead to more demand of smartphones and will create the a wide spectrum for smartphones companies to compete for and to deliver.” said Sanjeev Bhatia, CEO of Zopo India and Managing Director of Adcom.