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Samsung had a manufacturing plant in Chennai earlier but shut it down in 2018 due to the government imposing import duties.

In what comes as a boost for self reliant India, Samsung India, the largest smartphone and electronics consumer has decided to start the local manufacturing of the TV sets from December 2020.

According to a report published in the Economic Times, the consumer electronics maker, Samsung has written a letter to the government asking permission to import the TV sets till December to ensure the business is continued without any hassle.

As the electronics industry has suffered a huge loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, Samsung is expecting to boost its sales amid the imminent festive season till December which is why it has written a letter to the government seeking permission.

Samsung has written the letter to the IT and electronics minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on September 28 where it mentioned that the current set up is pivotal for increasing the sales.

What’s worth mentioning is that the Indian government for the first time has put out in public that the importing of TV sets will be prohibited and comes under the restricted category.

The government has mentioned on July 30 that this move is a part of its strategy to discourage the imports from China in order to boost the domestic manufacturing.

Samsung in its letter said to the central government that the import restrictions come against the ethics of ease of doing business and the imports that are held at the customs are impacting the businesses amid the challenging times.

As per the central government, companies now need licenses to import the TV sets.

The company has also mentioned in its letter that as they are setting up local manufacturing units in December 2020 it was seen requesting the government to allow the imports till then.

Samsung has also written the letter to the Prime Minister’s office and the Director General of Foreign Trade.

Earlier, Samsung used to have a manufacturing unit in Chennai but the company had shut it down in 2018 after the government imposed duties on the open cells of the TV units.

The Korean company, Samsung since then started importing the parts and necessary items from Vietnam at zero import duty through the free trade agreement.

The company has also mentioned that it would restart the manufacturing operations in Chennai but it requires more man power and also modernization.

However, the company will continue to import the high end models with 75 inches and above which is just a minute percentage of the total sales of the company.

The local plant in Chennai is likely to bring down the country’s dependency on foreign countries and will also limit the imports to a greater extent.

By Gayatri Yellayi