Zero duty for open cell TV panels could continue

The government is currently evaluating an extension of zero duty import of ready-to-use open cell television panels beyond September, prompted by proposals from leading manufacturers like Samsung and LG. Open cell panels are the key components of TV manufacturing, accounting for 65-70% of its production cost. Currently, there are no manufacturers of these panels in India. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) issued a notification last December announcing that it will introduce duties for open cell TV panels in October 2020, while continuing with nil duty for raw open cells, which require further assembling, can be imported at nil duty. The industry has argued that this will not bring any benefits with the decision in terms of either value addition or employment generation and in fact, no open cell manufacturer is ready to sell raw open cells panels.