Budget Expectations for Consumer Durables by Mr. Kamal Nandi, Business Head & EVP, Godrej Appliances

Mr. Kamal Nandi, Business Head & EVP, Godrej Appliances:

1. Restore concessional excise duty of 10% for appliances.

Appliance industry after three years of stagnation has witnessed double digit growth post announcement of concessional excise duty by the Govt. early 2014. In order to sustain this growth momentum it is expected that concessional excise duty be restored for this sector at least for another one year.

2. In order to promote manufacturing in line with the 'Make in India' vision, Govt. must reduce customs duty on parts and components of refrigerator, washing machines, air conditioners and microwaves from current 7.5-10% to 0 in order to make manufacturing in India more competitive than finished goods imports from FTA countries.

3. The energy labeling program launched by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has been very successful in bringing down energy consumption by appliances. These savings must be shared with manufacturers to support their investment for developing higher energy efficient products.

4. In order to further bring down energy consumption by appliances, consumers should be incentivized to purchase higher energy efficient products. The incentive can be passed on to them in the form of reduced sales tax or excise duty for higher energy efficient products.