Modi adviser wants ban on luxury products; to impact iPhone XS, XS Max and XR sales in India

Apple might face some difficulty in selling its newly launched flagship iPhones in India. Because an adviser of PM Narendra Modi has said that India should ban the import of all the luxury products in order to control the CAD (Current Account Deficit) and support the rupee. PM's adviser has bravely said that it is better to ban the luxury products rather than increasing interest rates on them. If the government follow this suggestion then it might be very difficult for Apple to sell the newly launched iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.

Rathin Roy, a member of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council said in an interview to Bloomberg, "We need to actively send signals to disincentive or discourage an increase in consumption of what I describe as explicit luxuries."

Cupertino based smartphone maker Apple is already facing high winds in terms of import duty, as the Indian government has hicked the import rates. Significantly the company has also hiked the prices of the iPhone which makes it more expensive in India.

By the mid of 2018, Apple has managed to sell less than a million iPhones in India. This makes it the third largest smartphone market in the world. However, the import duty hiked between 15 to 20 percent makes the iPhones expensive and consumers get incline to brands like Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Honor, Vivo, Motorola, OnePlus and more. In 2017, iPhone had only 2 percent market share in the country, with 3.2 million units sold.

Recently, the government has increased the import duty from 2.5 percent to 10 percent for a list of 19 products including ACs, footwear, washing machines, diamonds, tyres and even home appliances.

Apple iPhone XS and Xs Max are one of the most awaited smartphones from the company. But, surprisingly, 40-45% of the stock was unsold as of Sunday night.

The Apple iPhone XS comes with a price tag of Rs 99,900 for the 64GB variant, while the 256GB variant cost you Rs 1,14,900. On the other hand, the iPhone XS Max is priced at Rs 1,09,900 in 64GB, and the 256GB one is for Rs 1,24,900.