The Import of tempered glass from China for smartphones may continue for sometime, especially because of traders in the grey market and a lack of manufacturing interest by several component makers in the country.
Officially, the import of mobile tempered glass rose to ₹4,035.73 crore in April 2024 to January 2025, which was a year-on-year (yoy) increase of 81.45 per cent as compared with ₹2,224.13 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. The numbers could be much higher and multifold in terms of growth if calculated on the basis of imports through illegal routes.
According to sources, there are very few companies who want to set up manufacturing facilities for supplying such glasses to manufacturers even though top global brands like Apple and Samsung are making their premium smartphones here.
“Several Chinese brands are procuring the screen protectors from their vendors in China so there will be a huge opportunity if local companies can also start manufacturing here. That will not only create employment opportunity, but also better quality of products because there is no standard as such in India,” said an industry veteran.
Sources said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) were sounded on the issue a couple of years ago because duty worth thousands of crores of rupees is understood to have been evaded through illegal and unaccounted imports. The government levies a 15 per cent import duty on such items.
Sale of such tempered glass also happens mostly on cash trading and without bills in every nook and corner of the country, thus avoiding GST payout, which in return leading to revenue loss for the exchequer too.
“That is why standardisation is must, which BIS is in the process and it is expected to take at least six months. Once that standardisation is ready then manufacturers in India can also show interest in setting up facilities,” said another industry veteran requesting anonymity.
According to a report by India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), in 2022, screen protectors market is one of the important and a large part of the Global Mobile Accessories ecosystem, which was expected to reach up to 55-crore units with a value of ₹25,000 crore by 2025.
There was an urgent need to channelise this industry with quality standards and ensure that ‘sub-standard’ tempered glass screen protectors are not made/imported or sold in the country. Once the standardisation is achieved, a legal and quality-oriented market will be created, enabling the local suppliers to sell through proper channels and formalising the entire supply chain, ICEA had added.
Published on May 17, 2025
