There was a time when people those who wanna save some money on mobile purchase go to Petta AKA Pitta Kottuwa. But things have changed a lot with the tax redemption regulated by the SL Gov. Those who bought phones from Pettah realized that those phones are even cheaper in Maharagama or Kiribathgoda.
This tax redemption was initiated to encourage people to buy more mobile phones which will result in high telephony usage in the country.
Another reason is, to encourage the tourist to buy electronic stuffs from Lankan market. Most of us know that some of us travel to Singapore only for shopping. We can save thousands of bucks if we buy electronic goods in Singapore. But my question is, are we really there?? Or this tax redemption is a joke??
For an example, I’m in India on an official Trip. I bought LG Optimus GT540 for 10,000 INR (almost 25000 LKR). When I asked the price of the phone here at Lanka, it was around 38,500 LKR. Sri Lankan electronic good prices are not even competing with India so isn’t it a joke that we are going to attract the tourist segment that comes only for shopping to Sri Lanka??
Another example was Nokia’s so called revolutionary product N8 (with HD cam, new Symbian OS etc etc) is 24,000 INR in India. Can you guess the price in Lanka?? It is around 77,000. I couldn’t stop but laughed my ass out.
I believe, it’s the mobile sellers in Sri Lanka making a good deal of money from the tax redemption not the public. There must be a dark mafia going on between the sellers to control the price so they can make good money. Good for them to find this cash cow but not good for the vision set by the Gov of SL for the future of our nation.
Just a food for thought!
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Pradeep says
I think this is because Nokia or any other mobile device manufacturer does not have a production unit in Srilanka. Here we have a big Nokia factory in Chennai. BTW, if you compare Apple product prices in the US and India, you will be shocked your a** out again 🙂
Mayooresan says
Yeah anna agreed, but import taxes between India and Sri Lanka is very less. Anyway prices should be fair this is such a joke here.
I can buy a Cannon 1000D @ Inorbit for 24K which is around 30K INR in Lanka. see this is wot I am talking about :((
Andy G says
Hello,
i want to say thank you for a great job you’ve done on your blog.
I have a software download website and I also write articles for people to help them with their computers and software. Is it possible to place this article on your blog as a guest post?
Regards,
Andy G.