NRIs take 700 TVs from UAE to India daily

The Indian government’s decision to impose a 35 per cent duty on Non-Resident Indians bringing flat panel TVs has evoked strong reaction from the Indian community.

Industry players in the UAE claim that close to 700 TV sets are carried every day by the Indians flying from the UAE to India.

“On an average, it is estimated that close to 20,000 sets a month are being carried by passengers from the UAE, mainly Dubai, into various Indian cities,” said Niranjan Gidwani, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Eros Group.

Dubai-based Eros Group is official distributor of Samsung, Hitachi, TCL, Linksys, Candy, BenQ, Thermobreak, Lennox, Aiphone, Sonos, Transcend and Case.

Driven by the declining rupee, the Indian government earlier this week gave in to the long-standing demand of local TV retailers and banned duty-free import of flat-screen television sets by air travellers.

According to Indian government estimates, more than one million TV sets were brought into the country last year, with Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore as the primary sources.

Eros Group Deputy CEO Gidwani said the UAE, particularly Dubai, is a very significant hub for movement of consumer electronics and digital products which are hand carried into India.

“Very competitive pricing, proximity to India, and between 700 to 800 flights a month from various airlines into different Indian cities have added to Dubai’s importance for this business,” he added.

Gidwani said: “With the imposition of such high duties, there is likely to be a very serious impact on this business in the short- to medium-term.
However, Dubai has always been a lucky trading city. When one door shuts, strangely, some other avenues open up rather quickly.

“Also imposition of such high duties is restrictive, but may also lead to opening up more corrupt channels at the India end, which might actually negate to some extent the purpose for which this exercise is being set up by the government of India.”

Click to read: India bans duty-free import of TVs

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