New Delhi: IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will hold discussions with CEOs of over 50 global technology companies including Apple, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi on Monday, seeking their inputs on opportunities and expectations from the government to make India a powerhouse for the electronics manufacturing sector, IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney said on Friday.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that over $15 billion worth of investment proposals have been received directly by the IT Ministry under its flagship investment scheme.
"Number of factors already make India an attractive destination for electronics manufacturing. There is a huge talent pool, cost competitiveness, and all major brands are already here. The value addition being done in India for feature phones have now increased to 25 percent from 11 percent earlier. In the case of smartphones, it is now 18 percent.
"We have embarked upon major policy changes already stepping up from small clusters policy where 50 acres land were given to the companies... now 200 acres are being proposed to be given under 'Anchor units clusters' where companies will be encouraged to have a supply chain also to develop a full ecosystem. Our aim is to encourage larger clusters," Sawhney said on a curtain-raiser briefing.
Other ministries including Finance and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade will also be there.
In August, the government relaxed rules for foreign direct investment (FDI) for single-brand retail under which definition of 30 percent domestic sourcing expanded to include exports from third party manufacturers. This, in turn, is expected to help foreign handset makers operating in India to meet the requirements easily and open retail stores that they would own completely and operate.
Seen as a step to lure Apple, Oneplus and others, the government now wants to reach out to the entire global electronics industry for doing more business in India.
The government has allowed online retailing before opening physical stores under single-brand retail and relaxed the rule of mandatory brick-and-mortar stores while expanding the definition of mandatory 30 percent domestic sourcing norm.
India's smartphone industry is expected to witness a surge in turnover during the next four to five years, with the domestic market demand expected to surge from the current $25 billion to $80 billion by 2025, as per the National Policy on Electronics (NPE), 2019.
"National Policy on Electronics 2019 envisions positioning India as a global electronics hub by encouraging and driving capabilities in the country for developing core components (including chipsets), and creating an enabling environment for the industry to compete globally. MeitY (Ministry of Information Technology) is planning to embark upon a comprehensive investment and trade promotion program to make Electronics India a brand synonymous with the next electronics hub," the IT Secretary said. (IANS)