Japan-India tussle over mobile phone import duties

Japan has accused India of advancing its interests by fostering domestic production and adjusting various taxes, including custom duties, under the Make in India project. While WTO membership terms specified that the import tariff on all the disputed goods was 0%, India applied a 20% tariff to mobile phones & base stations. Japan also pointed out that tariffs of 10%, 15% and 20% were levied on the other products.

Some of these tariffs are in excess of those allowed by the WTO regulations, according to Japan. As per the multilateral organization’s rules, India has 60 days to settle the dispute, after which Japan could request the organization to set up an adjudication panel to take a call on the matter.