Rationalise duty on mobiles: Telecom industry

New Delhi, Sep 3: Dismissing any conspiracy behind the overheating of Nokia's 'BL-5C' series of battery, the Indian telecom industry today said it will approach the government to rationalise import duties on mobiles and accessories to stop the flood of cheaper counterfeit products coming into the country.

''Currently fake batteries are imported at Rs 10 in the Mumbai seaport paying a duty of only 3.40 per cent. Hence, a standard should be put in place to stop rampant smuggling in the market,'' Indian Cellular Association National President Pankak Mohindroo told reporters here.

A tough stand should be maintained against the grey market which is expanding in leaps and bounds, he said, adding that nine crore mobiles will be sold this year with OEM batteries. However, 0-75 per cent of the replacement battery market is still dominated by counterfeit batteries, he added.

''Out of the Rs 4-4.5 crore battery replacement market, most of it is of suspect quality. We appeal to the government that the duty structure should be rationalised and that will go a long way in curbing the grey market.'' Speaking on the battery controversy, Nokia India Vice President and Managing Director D Shivakumar said that 10-12 cases being reported till date are either fake or tampered with.

''Nearly a quarter of batteries have been done away with. We are opening with retail channels and strenghtening our care centres to speeden the work of replacement of batteries,' he said.

''We are working on a e-waste disposal programme and government is also working on a standard for e-waste disposal,'' Chief Executive Officer HCL infosystems Ajai Chowdhry said.

Nokia announced a recall of 46 million batteries globally after discovering they could overheat and explode. These batteries were manufactured by Matsushita between October 2005 and November 2006. ''Consumer safety is paramount to Nokia and therefore product safety, quality and reliability is our top priority,'' Mr Shivakumar said adding that replacement of batteries has already been started.

Nokia is closely looking into each and every case and will go for due investigation, he added.

UNI