Two-wheeler prices could go North

In a show of insufficient support to India’s flourishing private sector, the Government Of India’s Union Budget 2012–13 proposes hiking two-wheeler excise duty from ten to twelve percent; an inexplicable move that can only trigger price hikes across the industry, as two-wheeler manufacturers are left little choice but to pass their increased cost burden on to buyers.

The government has meanwhile also failed to provide relief to what are already sky high import duties levied on imported motorcycles brought in as completely built units (CBU), semi knocked down (SKD) and completely knocked down units (CKD), unreasonably choosing to keep duty unaltered for these products, with 60 percent duty absorbed by the Government on every CBU model, and 30 percent for all CKD bikes.