AIFHI demands duty rationalisation, to curb illegal imports

New Delhi, Nov 14 (UNI) On the lines of mobile phone industry availing various tax sops, Indian watch industry body All India Federation of Horological Industries (AIFHI) today demanded the Government to reduce the tax rates and curb illegal imports of watches.

''With the illegal imports of watches, the industry suffers a lot and so does the Government's revenue,'' AIFHI President Harish Bhat told reporters here.

Mr Bhat also sought favour from Government to increase abatement rate from presently 35 per cent to 50 per cent on watches and to rationalise the duty structure by reducing the excise duty to 8 per cent from the present 16 per cent.

''If the Government accepts all its three proposals, its revenue would go up to Rs 778 crore from Rs 275 crore, Mr Bhat added.

He demanded to reduce import duty on the high end watces to encourage official import of watches in luxury segment, as its share is almost negligible across the country.

If all the proposals are met, the Government's exchequer will grow upto 250 per cent by 2009-10 with the industry size reaching Rs 4,750 crore from the current Rs 2,746 crore, and the organised sector garnering Rs 3,750 crore share out of it.

There are 20,000 watch retailers across the country, with almost over 1,00,000 families involved in the industry currently, AIFHI Vice Presently V D Badhwa said.

Mr Badhwa said in India the share of below Rs 1,000 watches is around 80 per cent which is covered by the unorganised sector that hardly pays any duty to the Government.

Calling it a prospect segment, he gave emphasis on this low end watches in the interest of common people and requested the Government to exempt the duty on these category of watches in the coming budget.

As per the industry estimates, over 60 per cent of the total four crore watches sold are smuggled or made out of smuggled parts, Mr Badhwa said.

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