The Board of Investment (BoI) approved additional privileges on Monday for medical devices and related industries, with a reduction in corporate income tax by 50% for three years.
Additional privileges aim to induce investors to rev up producing medical equipment for the domestic market, as demand surges because of the pandemic.
Duangjai Asawachintachit, secretary-general of BoI, said additional privileges are for eligible projects submitting investment applications to the BoI from Jan 1 to June 20, 2020.
The investment projects are required to start operating and generating income by Dec 31, 2020, and donate or sell at least 50% of products to the domestic market during 2020-2021.
Existing medical equipment projects will also be allowed to enjoy an exemption from import duties on machinery if they want to improve their production. Existing suppliers are required to import machinery within this year.
In a related matter, the board approved yesterday the investment applications of Mitsubishi Motors Thailand for improving its existing production line in Chon Buri to manufacture electric cars and parts worth 5.48 billion baht.
The production includes a total of 39,000 units of electric cars, comprising 9,500 units of battery electric vehicles and 29,500 units of hybrid electric vehicles.
The company plans to introduce electric cars to the market by 2023 and export to Asean.
The BoI offers the longest exemption from corporate income tax -- eight years -- for firms in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
BoI reported investment applications in the first three months this year totalled 378 projects, up from 368 projects in the same period last year, with a combined investment worth 71.4 billion baht, down 44% from 128 billion baht in the same period last year. Most applications are small and medium scale.
Applications in the government's flagship EEC accounted for 67% of total investment or 47.6 billion baht.