Date:23/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/03/23/stories/2007032304770400.htm

Back Maran to press for zero tariff on PCs

Our Bureau

New Delhi March 22 The Union Minister for Communication, Information and Technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, said that he would write to the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, to reduce the tariff to zero on personal computers.

This comes in the wake of the Dell Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Michael Dell's remarks on Tuesday stating "India was losing investments due to high tariff structure. At present, the taxes add to 20-25 per cent of the cost for computers. Hence, bringing it down to zero duties would make the computers cheaper and facilitate robust penetration of PCs in the domestic market."

In response to his comments, Mr Maran said, "The tax structure is high in India. The zero duty tariff structure in the cell phone industry has led to a high growth in the telecom sector and attracted some of the biggest multinationals like Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola to set up manufacturing units in the country. I will write to the Prime Minister and the Finance Ministry to do the same for PCs also. We do not want just assembly but also component manufacturing to take place," said Mr Maran.