Finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday paved the way for cheaper computers and cellular phones by announcing import duty cuts on these items in his Union Budget 2000.

The duties on computers, mother boards and floppy diskettes have been reduced to 15 per cent from 20 per cent at present.

The duty on cellular phones has gone down to five per cent from 25 per cent. Considering the existing countervailing duty, cellphone handset prices are expected to go down by at least Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000, one cellular telecom service provider said. Mr Sinha said the duty on CD-ROMs, microprocessors, integrated circuits and memory storage devices has been brought down to zero from five per cent.

For the telecom sector, Budget 2000 has brought down the duty on specified materials for manufacturing optical fibres to 5 per cent from 15 per cent. The move will benefit cellular and basic telecom players by reducing the cost of laying out the network.

"I am extending the five per cent basic duty applicable to specified telecom equipment to Internet service providers also," Mr Sinha said. Duty on specified capital goods for the manufacture of semi-conductors and integrated circuits has been brought down to five per cent from 15 per cent.

Republished from Asian Age