Union Budget 2023: After FM reduces taxes, mobile phones to get cheaper

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Union Budget 2023: FM Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget today in Parliament where she also announced changes that will impact the technology sector. In recent years, technology has played a crucial role in India's economic growth. While the Make in India initiative and cybersecurity have been getting all the attention, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also had a couple of updates to share in relation to technology, in various fields such as agriculture, finance and others, as well as smartphones, tech components and prices. Despite the rising semiconductor shortage which is plaguing tech industry around the world, leading to increased prices, smartphones could get a reduction in prices thanks to relaxation in custom duty of mobile phone parts, according to FM Sitharaman.

In the Finance Minister's speech, there were a number of critical announcements in the field of technology.

Relief to custom duty has been proposed on the import of certain mobile phone parts such as camera lenses, lithium-ion batteries. This has been mainly due to the growth of India's mobile manufacturing unit from 5.8 crore units in 2014 to over 31 crore units in 2022.

100 labs for developing applications using 5G services will be set up in engineering institutions to realize new range of opportunities, business models and employment. The labs will cover applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems and healthcare applications.

100 labs for developing apps using 5G services will be set up in engg institutions. To realise new range of opportunities, business models&employment potential, labs will cover among others, apps like Smart Classrooms,Precision Farming,Intelligent Transports