NEW DELHI: In a bid to encourage local manufacturing, the Centre has imposed restrictions on imports of fully-built colour television sets. The curbs, while unlikely to impact prices, are nevertheless expected to benefit local contract manufacturers, attract investments in component production and improve assembly lines, say industry executives.
Officials also say that the move would fuel the country’s dream of becoming a manufacturing hub for TVs and a competitive partner in the world economy. “This step is definitely in the right direction and will help in creating a global hub, which we want to be, and it also helps to create a strong ecosystem for manufacturing of the products,” said Sunil Vachani, chairman, Dixon Technologies.
The homegrown company manufactures TVs for the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi at its local factories.
This will also help control the “flood of import” of TV sets in the short term and the industry will be self-reliant with the required scale and will compete with global markets, Vachani added.
The TV segment is one of the larger subsets of Appliance and Consumer Electronics, accounting for volumes of almost 16-17 crore with an estimated sale value of about Rs 25,000 crore annually. Shipments worth Rs 7,000 crore come from countries like China, Thailand and Vietnam. Official data shows that as much as $781 million worth of TVs were imported in 2019-20. Of this, $428 million was from Vietnam and $293 million was from China.
According to Kamal Nandi, President, Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association, the move will attract more investments in technology and manufacturing which will lead to creation of more jobs. “CEAMA is closely working with the government to formulate and facilitate both phased manufacturing and end-to-end TV manufacturing in India. Various representations around the benefits of such a plan have also been submitted,” Nandi said.
Industry officials say the decision will impact the business of companies such as Vu and China’s TCL.
For established brands like Samsung, Sony, LG, and even relatively newer entrant Xiaomi, however, the restrictions are likely to affect imports of some premium models even as a large portion of their products on the market are locally made and sourced.