Duty on mobiles serves as windfall for dealers

KARACHI - Mobile phone dealers and shopkeepers have started fleecing the consumers by charging additional amount ranging between Rs 500-700 on available stocks of mobile sets after the government imposed customs duty worth Rs500 on the import of mobile phones in the national budget, sources revealed to The Nation here on Thursday.
The dealers are charging extra amount on the sets on which they had not paid any duty thus minting millions just after one simple announcement in the budget. Bulk importers had predicted that the imposition of duty would encourage smuggling.
Dealers have pulled out of the market huge number of mobile sets a week ago after it was speculated that the government was to impose duty on the mobile sets in the federal budget. They withdrew from the market a huge bulk of sets in order to mint money if the speculation proved true. The government, as speculated, imposed levy on the sets and as soon as Federal Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar released the budget, the dealers began charging extra amount from the consumers. The mobile market shops located in Saddar before budget were overflowing with mobile sets but after its announcement the shops presented an empty look and there were hardly a few sets available at the outlets.
A mobile vendor at Sadder market, who wished not to be named, revealed that investors and dealers, who have opted for withdrawing available sets, were quite optimistic about the imposition of duty on mobile phones and knew that there was no chance of loss even if the government did not levy the tax. He said that investors and dealers had earned billions of rupees after the imposition of customs duty on mobile phones because they are charging extra money on the stocks on which they had not paid any duty.