I&B Ministry wants Indian-made STBs, hints at sops

In the present scenario, STBs are (or already have been) being imported in bulk at a minimum cost of Rs 2,800 to Rs 3,300. Once the Indian manufacturers get into the scene, officials claim, the price would come down to one-third, making it a lot more affordable for the small urban centres where CAS is headed to.

In the two-pronged strategy, the government is likely to cut down import duty on components required to assemble STBs while at the same time hiking customs duty on imported boxes.

Even as the I&B Ministry vehemently countered talk of shortfall in the CAS notified areas of Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, officials added that “local manufacturing is inevitable for the second-phase of CAS implementation”. Moreover, the government finds no reason to deny the domestic manufacturing sector a slice of the CAS pie. “It is a growing demand-oriented market which requires some long-term strategy. The fact that Korean companies are setting up shop in China to manufacture extra STBs to meet the demand from India has been taken note of, hence the incentive package,” the officials added.

In the retail market, the STBs come for Rs 3,000 adding up duties inbuilt into the product. At the moment, the competing service providers are trying to cushion the cost by offering various payment schemes to get a foothold into the new market.