Electronic Manufacturing Can Boost $1 Trillion To Economy

Prime Minister's vision of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025, the electronics manufacturing industry alone can contribute to $1 trillion, said Union IT and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. He added that the local production would be expanded to include laptops and tablets beyond mobiles phones.

Prasad told a virtual conference marking industry body Assocham’s Foundation Week on Friday that my future plan is very, very straight and simple. I am not going to stop with mobile phones. By 2025, we will manufacture 1 billion mobile phones, 5 million TVs and 50 million hardware including laptop and tablets.

“Therefore, you talk of a $5 trillion economy, I have not the slightest doubt that by proper scaling of the electronics manufacturing industry, we will be able to contribute $1 trillion by this manufacturing alone,” he added.

Noida alone has attracted 9-plus handset manufacturing facilities. Since 2014, the number of mobile phone manufacturing units have has increased from just 2 to 25 now and has created close to 600,000 jobs.

He has also said that the 16 companies approved under the latest production Linked-Incentive scheme has already started production and are on track to generate an output of र10 lakh crore by 2025. Highlighting the role of M-SIPS (Modified Special Incentives package Scheme), 2016, Prasad said that while the government has disbursed over र1,000 crore in incentives, manufacturing firms have paid र35,000 crore in taxes and contributed to exports worth र47,000 crore.

“We have saved close to र1.78 lakh crore which used to be pocketed by middlemen,” he said. On the growth of the digital inclusiveness, Prasad said that because of JAM ( Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar, mobile) trinity, the government has disbursed over र13 lakh crore under 400 scheme directly ot the bank accounts of the poor in the last five-and-half years.

Digital payments have grown, and that UPI (Unified Payment Interfaced) has recorded the highest ever transactions of 2.21 billion in November, he said.

Prasad highlighted on digitisation of the agriculture sector, the role of e-mandis, which today host close to 16.8 million farmers and 100,000 traders who have done business worth र1.15 lakh crore. There are close to 1000 e-mandis across 21 states, he said.