After Sitharaman, ministry of electronics and information technology says no to Apple

In another showdown of sorts, it is now the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) that has gone with the revenue department and said that Apple’s demands just cannot be met. MeitY said that Apple’s demands for an import duty exemption for certain components for making iPhones in India will just not work out.

As per a report from the Financial Express, Apple is seeking an exemption from phased manufacturing programme (PMP) (one that involves chargers, batteries and headphones for manufacturing of Apple iPhones) to be exempted from basic customs duty and countervailing duty as well. This according to the MeitY will not be feasible.

However, it is not all negative responses on the Apple query as to whether smartphone exports are eligible for incentives under the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) has seen a favourable response.

So far MeitY has asked the commerce ministry to up its support to 5 percent of the FOB value. This currently sits at 2 percent as told to Financial Express.

On Wednesday, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Rajya Sabha announced that the government has not accepted “most of the demands” coming from the US technology giant.

According to a latest  report in the Wall Street Journal, Apple is all set to start assembling its iPhones via its contract manufacturer Wistron Corp, in the next two months. But according to the Financial Express’ sources, this set up is only a “pilot project”.