Import duty hike to have short term impact on watch industry:

The domestic watch industry, which witnessed a slowdown post demonetisation will face the impact of increase in import duty, a top official of Japanese watch maker, Seiko said today.
The industry, which witnessed a slow down in the wake of demonetisation and implementation of GST, now has to face the impact of increase in the import duty from 10 to 20 per cent, Seiko Watch India President and COO, Niladri Mazumder told reporters here.
The industry was still looking at how increase in the duty will impact its performance, he said adding there could be a short term impact, which has to be deliberated upon.

When asked whether the company proposed to hike the watch price in view of this, Majumder said it was too early to decide and will depend on overall impact on the industry.
Majumder, who is here to launch the company's product Presage, a collection of nine watches at Zimson showroom, said the company with a Compounded Annual Growth Rate of 20 per cent for the last 11 years, is growing at 15 per cent at present.
South India contributed significantly to the turn over of the company followed by North.
Stating that Presage, the latest fine mechanical watch collection will be a trend setter in India for another five years, the COO said the company will launch a collection for women by March.