raising tariffs on components make importing of the whole part cheaper in comparison with local manufacturing. He added that this form of competitive disadvantage would force manufacturers to scale back production, leading to a loss of ₹100 billion (US$1.3 billion) to ₹150 billion (US$2.006 billion).
According to the ICEA, these tariffs have been imposed by the Department of Revenue suo motu, and that they are in conflict with the government’s flagship Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. “The PLI scheme is aimed at decreasing the existing cost disability in India versus China and Vietnam,” the industry body said, noting that any hike in customs duties on inputs will increase this cost disability.
This, it said, will lead to increase in imports as opposed to import substitution, which is contrary to the core policy objectives of the PLI scheme.
The ICEA further noted that with the support of the right policies, India is in a position to establish a charger industry with over 60 manufacturing units producing over 600 million chargers, a portion of which can be exported as well. “However, with duties, the charger industry has gone into de-growth,” it added. The industry body pointed out that the impact of the additional duty set out in the 2021-22 budget is a rise in 6 to 7 per cent on the bill of materials of chargers.
