GST effect: Apple, Xiaomi, Realme and others hike mobile prices in India

Last month, Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council announced a hike in the GST rate on mobiles from 12% to 18% and was scheduled to take effect from April 1.

Besides the GST hike, India's Rupee value, in the last two weeks, has depreciated against the US Dollar due to the COVID-19 outbreak, adding further pressure on companies to increase the price.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the mobile phone ecosystem globally and India. This has put serious pressure on mobile phone brands due to the irregular supply of components and support from the supply chain in China, South Korea and elsewhere. Furthermore, this pandemic has also resulted in foreign exchange fluctuation and a recessionary climate, though brands have not calibrated the pricing due to this uncertainty so far. That's why we have seen some leading brands already considering price hikes in 2020," Neil Shah, Vice President, Research at Counterpoint said in a statement.

Now, Xiaomi, Apple, Realme and other mobile-makers in India have announced the increase in prices of their mobile phones in India.

"Mi fans, GST on mobile phones has increased by 50% from 12% to 18%. After much deliberation & in keeping with the Xiaomi policy of maintaining less than 5% margin on our hardware products, we will be increasing the prices of our products. New prices will be effective immediately, " Manu Kumar Jain, vice president (global), MD (India), Xiaomi said on Twitter.

The new price list of the Xiaomi's Mi and Redmi series mobiles are listed on Mi.com. Even Poco, which recently split from Xiaomi, also has hiked Poco X2 by Rs 1,000 on all models on Flipkart.

Realme too has made similar announcements. The new price structure will be updated on the company's official website soon.

"Today (April 1) we are announcing that realme smartphones will have to boost the prices up for the first time since 2018. It’s never easy for realme as a new brand to keep providing the latest technologies across different price segments in India. We sincerely hope you will continue to support not only us but also the whole smartphone industry, for more amazing technologies and surprises in the future," the company spokesperson said.

American premium mobile-maker Apple too has revised the prices of all the iPhone old and new in India. The iPhone 11 Pro Max (64GB) prices start at Rs 1,17,100 against Rs 1,11,200.

The iPhone 11 Pro (64GB) used to cost Rs 1,01,620 and now, it will set you back by Rs 1,06,600. Similarly, the iPhone 11 is priced Rs 68,300 against old MRP Rs 64,900.

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Apple's most popular mobile iPhone XR (64GB) now cost Rs 52,500 against Rs 49,900. And for the Apple iPhone 7 (32 GB), you will have to shell out Rs 31,500 against compared to the old price of Rs 29,900.

Oppo, Vivo and other mobile-makers are expected to announce a revised price list of its phones soon.

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