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Proposed budget to boost local mobile set manufacturing industry

3 || risingbd.com

Published: 03:18, 10 June 2018   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
Proposed budget to boost local mobile set manufacturing industry

Economic Reporter: Terming the proposed budget as conducive for the boost of local mobile phone manufacturing industry, local entrepreneurs opined that implementation of the proposed budget will encourage the domestic production of mobile set accessories like motherboard, display, housing and caching, battery, charger, ear phone etc. 

While placing the budget proposal for the fiscal year 2018-19 on Thursday last, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith proposed to reduce customs duty on some raw materials to boost the local production of mobile handset accessories. Muhith also proposed the VAT exemption on the production of handsets at the domestic level. On the other hand, the finance minister also proposed an increase of 1 percentage extra surcharge for imported handsets and also an increase of 15 percentage duties on imported batteries and chargers.

Local mobile phone manufacturers welcomed the finance minister’s budget proposals. They termed the proposals as conducive for the boost of local mobile set manufacturing industry. The implementation of the proposed budget will flourish the real handset manufacturing unit rather than the assembling unit, they noted.

Mohammad Sahabuddin Sabuj, Secretary General of Computer and Mobile Manufacturers and Exporters Association (Proposed), said, the proposed budget will encourage local and foreign investment in establishing the real mobile phone manufacturing industry in Bangladesh.

He said that implementation of the proposed budget will lead the local entrepreneurs in manufacturing the mobile handsets’ accessories. In addition, the boost of handset manufacturing industry will also flourish the local hardware and software industry, he noted.

In this regard, Professor Dr KBM Mahbubur Rahman, chairman of Economics Department of Rajshahi University, said, the proposals for imposing one percentage extra surcharge on mobile phone import as well as increasing the import duties of battery and chargers by 15 percentage were conducive for the real production of handsets in Bangladesh.

The boost of this sector will be resulted in creating huge employment opportunity, making a positive impact on our economy by reducing the present import dependency and also building skilled and experienced workforce in the hi-tech industry, he noted.

Dr Md. Alauddin Majumder, Professor of Economics Department of Chittagong University, considered the budget proposals positive for the local handset manufacturer as the import of mobile set was disheartened in the proposed budget. In addition, the proposals encouraged the investment in the real mobile phone manufacturing industry.


risingbd/Dhaka/Jun 10, 2018/Milton Ahmed/Nasim

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