Published 12:07 IST, February 1st 2025
Union Budget 2025: Government Hikes Customs Duty on Flat Panel Displays, Industry Reacts
Speaking in Parliament, Finance Minister said the new customs duty will boost local manufacturing of panels.

During her speech at Parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the customs duty on interactive and flat panel displays will jump from 10 per cent to 20 per cent, while the duty on Open Cell and related components will shrink from 5 per cent.
“I propose to increase the BCD on Interactive Flat Panel Display (IFPD) from 10 per cent to 20 per cent and reduce the BCD to 5 per cent on Open Cell and other components,” said Sitharaman.
According to the minister, the increased customs duty will “rectify the inverted duty structure”, keeping it in alignment with the government’s Make in India policy. In other words, the hiked customs duty will discourage the use of imported panels and encourage local manufacturing of television panels. The announcement is expected to reduce import volumes for IFPD as sales of smart televisions grow rapidly with the market likely to reach roughly $19 billion by the end of this year, according to the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).
The new regime for BCD (Basic Customs Duty) on interactive flat panel displays may cause the price of TVs that use imported panels to go up significantly. However, manufacturers that develop Open Cell, a thin-film transistor (TFT) crystal display that is a key component in LED TVs, will benefit from increased exemptions.
Mixed reactions
Sitharaman's eighth budget drew mixed responses from the television manufacturing industry. While vendors without bonded manufacturing plants have expressed disappointment, those with access to the Open Cell technology at their facilities have lauded the budget.
“The proposed increase in Basic Custom Duty on interactive flat-panel displays from 10 per cent to 20 per cent, along with the reduction on open cells from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, is a positive step in addressing the inverted duty structure, which will encourage domestic manufacturing of electronics like LED TVs and support the broader consumer electronics sector,” said Anand Dubey, Chief Executive Officer of Indkal Technologies, which holds licenses to sell Acer-branded and Black+Decker-branded televisions.
On the other hand, Super Plastronics Private Limited — which manufactures televisions and sells them under brands such as Kodak, Thomson, and Blaupunkt — and JVC are “concerned” about the Open Cell exemptions in the budget.
“The recent reduction in customs duties to nil on open cells and components manufacturing applicable only to industries with bonded manufacturing plants, creates an uneven playing field for TV manufacturers without access to such facilities. This policy is not welcomed by the broader TV manufacturing industry, and for true growth, these benefits should be extended more equitably across the sector,” said Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of SPPL.
“We are concerned about the recent reduction in customs duties on open cells and components, which only benefits industries with bonded manufacturing plants, creating an uneven playing field and disadvantageous to other TV manufacturers. We believe these benefits should be extended more broadly across the sector to ensure true and sustainable growth,” said Pallavi Singh, Country Representative, JVC TV India.
Updated 19:14 IST, February 1st 2025