Modi government urges electronics giants to expand operations in India

Prasad said he had directed the ministry to set up an institutionalized mechanism in the form of a taskforce that would regularly interact with the industry, take their suggestions.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad (File | PTI)
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad (File | PTI)

NEW DELHI: Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday made a strong pitch to CEOs of global electronics giants to expand their manufacturing operations in India. 

“India will offer you Human Resource, investor-friendly policies and incentives for making in India and for exports,” Prasad said, following a CEO roundtable which saw the attendance of representatives from around 50 electronics majors. 

Prasad also promised that the government would roll out a complete roadmap for the sector over the next 2-3 months, including incentives and sops for firms that deepen their manufacturing and export commitments. The Niti Aayog is slated to bring out a plan in this regard in consultation with the IT ministry, he said. 

These sops envisioned in the policy will entail various aspects including incentives from state government as well as favourable land and energy policies. India, Prasad asserted, needs to become a 5G hub and pointed out that this would need the ecosystem to be backed by solid Intellectual property (IP), patents and Research and Development. India is also open to companies that want to leverage it purely for exports, he said.

India has set itself a target of creating a $400 billion (about Rs 28.43 lakh crore) electronic manufacturing ecosystem by 2025, and notified a new policy to boost manufacturing activities.

Monday’s closed-door meeting included representatives from all major verticals of electronics sector such as mobile handsets, consumer electronics, strategic electronics, medical devices, electronics manufacturing services, components, telecom and LED lighting, among others.Big names in the electronics and industry including Apple, Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, Qualcomm, Xiaomi, Dell, HP, Bosch, Cisco, Flextronics, Foxconn, Nokia, LG, Panasonic, Intel, Wistron, and Sterlite Technologies attended the roundtable. 

Prasad said he had directed the ministry to set up an institutionalised mechanism in the form of a taskforce that would regularly interact with the industry, take their suggestions.

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