Budget: Calibration of custom duty to help indigenous manufacturing

The government's move in the Union Budget to calibrate custom duty rates for domestic electronic manufacturing will help indigenous manufacturing in various sectors including consumer durables/ white goods, leading appliances and consumer electronics makers believe.

Moreover, policy interventions such as Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes, phased manufacturing plan and financial assistance to states will catalyze investments, the white goods makers said.

In the Budget 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said a concessional corporate tax rate of 15 per cent would be available for one more year till March 2024, for newly incorporated manufacturing companies.

Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) has welcomed the move saying it provides much-needed impetus to the economy and focuses on some critical pillars of growth such as infrastructure, inclusive development, ease of doing business, better governance amongst others and is in line with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

''The extension on a concessional tax of 15 per cent for newly established manufacturing entities will establish a globally competitive business environment for domestic manufacturing companies and will go long way in boosting indigenous manufacturing in various sectors including consumer durables / white goods,'' said CEAMA President Eric Braganza.

Though the industry, which was expecting a reduction in tax rates on energy-efficient products in the budget and rationalisation of GST on ACs and large screen size (over 105cm) from 28 per cent to 18 per cent, is now looking forward to hear from the GST Committee on this.

Godrej Appliances Business Head and Executive Vice President Kamal Nandi said ''an increase in capital expenditure should also aid growth by driving up investments. Moreover, continued focus on PLI will help generate employment and boost the indigenous manufacturing ecosystem.'' The government's push for urban infrastructure development and completion of 80 Lakh affordable houses under PM Awas Yojana in 22-23 will help entry-level appliances over the next 2–3 years.

Panasonic India CEO Manish Sharma said it was encouraging to see the focus on clean energy. ''In line with Panasonic's business strategy, we are looking forward to more details on the Battery Swapping Policy, especially related to 'inter-operability standards,'' Sharma said.

Haier Appliances India President Satish N S said the PLI will further help in increasing penetration and expansion of the tech and durables market.

Signify South Asia Managing Director and CEO Sumit Joshi applauded the government's ambitious plan to expand rural and urban infrastructure facilities, with a special focus on highways and roadways with the newly announced PM Gati Shakti plan, paving the way for the construction of 25,000 kms of national highways.

However, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd (SPPL) CEO Avneet Singh Marwah has rated this budget as an ''average'' as he was expecting some relaxation for the retail and consumer durables sector.

''Considering the fact that these sectors have been hit hard in the pandemic, we were surprised to see there were no relaxations or amendments provided to the manufacturers. I would rate this budget as an average,'' he said.

SPPL is a branding licenses for international brands which include Blaupunkt, Thomson, Kodak and White-Westinghouse.

Wonderchef MD and Co-Founder Ravi Saxena said the Budget gives confidence to the business community as it focuses on building strategic strengths rather than taking short term and fiscally deviant populist measures.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)