Budget 2013: Import Duty Up On Set-Top Boxes Increased

The Union Budget 2013 has bought some good news for the domestic set top box manufacturing companies in India. Finance Minister P Chidambaram has unveiled the Union Budget 2013 in the Parliament on 28 February 2013. The minister has announced an increase in the import duty of set top boxes. With the country now heading for the Phase II digitization the Budget 2013-14 has proposed an increase in the import duty of Set-top boxes (STB’s) from 5-10%. The move is expected to help boost the domestic manufacturing of set top boxes, which is an exciting incentive for the industry.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had last month urged the Finance Ministry to remove the anomaly between imported and indigenous STBs.

The government feels that domestic production of STBs would get a stimulus even as implementation of digitisation spreads across the country.

The aim is to digitize the cable sector in the country by 31 December 2014. The target date for completely digitising cable sector in cities with population of more than one million is 30 March 2013, all urban areas by 30 September 2014, and the whole country by 31 December 2014.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/1542-budget-2013-import-duty-up-on-set-top-boxes-increased.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/1542-budget-2013-import-duty-up-on-set-top-boxes-increased.html