Coimbatore : The watch industry, which started picking up after demonetisation and initial hiccups of GST, now had to witness the impact of import duty increase, a top official in leading watch manufacturer SEIKO said today.

The industry, which witnessed a slowdown in the initial period of demonetisation and also implementation of GST, had started picking up. But the Government increased import duty from 10 per cent to 20, SEIKO Watch IndiaPresident and COO Niladri Mazumder told reporters here.

The industry was still looking at how the increase in duty, coming to around 22.5 per cent, would impact its performance, he said adding there could be a short-term impact, which had to be deliberated upon.

Asked whether the company proposed to hike the watch price in view of this, Majumder said it was too early to decide and yet to be deliberated upon and would depend on the overall impact on the industry. Majumder, 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, was growing at 15 per cent.

He said South India contributed significantly in the company turnover and was expected to grow further.Stating that Presage, the latest fine mechanical watch collection would be a trend setter in India for another five years, he said the company would launch a collection for women by March.