Boult set to cut supply chain dependence on China
Boult expects dependence on the Chinese supply chain is set to decline sharply as component manufacturing picks up pace in India, with local value addition around 15% compared with zero in early 2022.
Boult cofounder Tarun Gupta told ET that this has been the trend since the Make-in-India initiative kicked off. To be sure, while some components such as batteries are sourced locally, most of the component supply chain is still in China.
“Before early 2022, virtually everything was coming from China,” Gupta said.
“Things have started to change with manufacturers in India, which means that the raw material or the components can be made locally.”
The company will prefer to source components locally. “We can have more quality control,” he said.
The government is pushing domestic manufacturing of components for electronics products including wearables, smartphones and personal computers.
After the phased manufacturing plan (PMP) was implemented, local production of wearables such as earphones and smartwatches reached Rs 8,000 crore in FY23 compared with negligible levels earlier.
As part of the PMP programme, import duty on most of the components for wearables was brought down to zero in FY23 and a schedule was put in place to charge duty at 5-15% between FY24 to FY26 to encourage local production of components as well. A 5% import duty is levied on batteries in FY24, which will be increased to 10% next year and 15% in FY26.
As a result of this, most batteries are produced locally now.
Boult said it is in talks with battery manufacturers in India for local sourcing.
The company, which has been an online-only brand, has recently shifted to offline with its products available in most multi-brand stores.
“The goal is that
