Chennai, Mar 19: Do cellular phones herald the taxman's arrival? The unsettling answer -- if you are contemplating convenient communication -- is yes, they do. Cellular phone sales in the country have stagnated over the past few months, ever since the income-tax authorities put them down as a criteria to identify income-tax assessees.According to industry sources, cellular networks have seen a flat sales with the subscriber numbers showing infinitesimal growth. And most attribute this to the `income-tax syndrome'.
Says Diwakar Singh of Skycell Communications, one of the cellular operators in Chennai, "If someone gives a cellular phone to his wife and then the income-tax authorities turn up and start asking the wife to file tax returns because she is the proud owner of a cell phone, people feel it is very embarrassing."
While this can be explained away, there still is the unnecessary hassle. And that is what is keeping the customer away, industry sources said.
Another Chennai operator RPG Cellular'sDilip Mehta said, "The cell phone as a new criteria for income tax assessment was so highlighted that naturally people felt hesitant to buy one. It has nothing to do with filing returns. Many an honest man would have been confused by the hype and kept away. It was a natural reaction for anyone."
Sources in Delhi's Airtel also concur and say that the income-tax factor has indeed contributed largely to a fall in subscriber growth.
However, all operators say that it is difficult to put a number on the actual percentage of fall in the growth rate. The rough estimates on the fall in subscriber numbers vary anywhere between 50 per cent to 20 per cent.
The problem, however, may be felt more in the metros than in the circles. JT Mobile general manager (marketing) GS Ramesh said, "We have not observed any such significant change in the subscriber growth rates. Our target segment right now is the high-end user and there the cell phone criteria does not count for much."
On the other hand, BPL US-West thelicencee for the Tamil Nadu circle headquartered in Coimbatore is much more concerned. Company president Deepak Varma says, "There is no doubt that this has affected sales. But to us the more pressing problem was created by the chaos following the bomb blasts in the city. These two factors have made the business community postpone their buying decisions and we are feeling the effect."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
