In a significant development, the government reduced the basic customs duty on mobile phones, chargers and other accessories to 15 percentage in the Union Budget presented on Tuesday.

The move would provide relief to the users, with mobiles phones and chargers set to be cheaper due to the custom reduction. The revision would also be made in other tax structures including the GST.  The government would try to further rationalise Goods And Service Tax (GST) structure, Nirmala Sitharaman said, noting that the government would exempt customs duty on 25 other critical minerals.

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The cut would help the companies compete with China and Vietnam, which reportedly have much lower and simplified input duty structures, according to industry experts. Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of ICEA congratulate the government for the decision, saying that the Finance Minister has also acknowledged the growth of mobile phone manufacturing and exports in the country. “We had recommended reducing BCD on mobile phones, its PCBA and Charger/Adapter by 15%, which has been accepted. The mobile and electronics industry is elated with the announcements and will go a long way to enhance manufacturing, exports and our competitiveness,” Moneycontrol quoted Mohindroo.

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The Finance Minister has also announced a comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act 1961. Notably, the government has also reduced duties on gold, silver and platinum. On gold and silver, it reduced to 6 percentage and on platinum, it reduced duties to 6 percentage.