Following the announcement of the Union budget 2013 by Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, the cost of mobile phones will be undertaking a subsequent rise.
The proposed segment will draw 6 percent customs duty over all the mobile phones which are priced above Rs 2,000 in comparison with the current financial year’s duty which is 1 percent.
People will have to shell out an extra 4-5 percent for any mobile phone costing over Rs 2000, which will encourage the grey market and discourage people from buying smart-phones as any 3G phone costing Rs 10,000 say, will now cost Rs 400-to-500 more,” said The Indian Cellular Association national president, Pankaj Mohindroo.
In order to increase usage of Internet for the users, telecom companies like Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications have been launching their own low price handsets, after the announcement.
The starting point of smart-phones has been around Rs 3,000 and following this, higher penetration of data usage has been forecast by industry experts, which is necessary to respond to the low voice calling rates.
The effect on the mobile phone market will also be seen in the coming weeks as a series of devices are about to launched.
