Govt may soon standardise mobile screen guards to protect domestic manufacturing

The Centre is probably going to implement Compulsory Registration Scheme for self-declaration of conformity with the brand new Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on imports of tempered glass screen protectors (TG-SP), that are primarily a part of the unorganised sector proper now.

According to sources within the know, representations have been despatched from the organised gamers to each the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and BIS requesting obligatory “Fog marking/ Etching” on all of the imported tempered glass screen printers.

Loss to the exchequer

The sources stated there’s a lack of 1000’s of crore of rupees to the federal government yearly due to such unorganised imports of the screen guards from China.

“There is a loss to the federal government by way of tax to the tune of 1000’s of crores (rupees). Besides shoppers are getting low high quality plastic merchandise within the identify of screen protectors,” a senior authorities official instructed businessline. There is quite a lot of job alternatives if this sector turns into organised and may make use of 40,000-50,000 individuals, the official stated.

In India, there are just a few corporations like Optiemus Infracom and Corning India proper now, that are manufacturing tempered glass or screen protectors for smartphones regionally.

According to market stories, domestic marketplace for tempered glass screen protectors is estimated to attain round ₹25,000 crore ($3.4 million) by 2025 at client value from at the moment round ₹18,000 crore, and the cumulative market is probably going to be round ₹1,02,700 crore ($14.3 billion) within the subsequent 5 years.

In phrases of volumes, the general marketplace for TG-SP reached 373 million models in 2021 in India and solely 10 per cent market is organised and relaxation 90 per cent are within the gray market.

Globally additionally, the screen protectors market is a big a part of the mobile equipment ecosystem and is anticipated to develop to $75 billion by 2025 from a present degree of round $43 billion.

According to the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) additionally, MeitY ought to advocate a particular HS Code for the Imports of TG-SP and make this as a compulsory requirement for these imports with Customs.

It stated other than GST, there are additionally different income losses to the nation like no revenue tax income, deficit in customs obligation collections, lack of employment and most significantly, mobile shoppers in India are being supplied with spurious/ sub-standard merchandise.

“Once the standardisation is achieved, a authorized and quality-oriented market will probably be created, enabling the native suppliers to promote by correct channels, formalising the whole provide chain,” Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA, stated.