PM’s vision is mobile phone exports of ₹1 lakh cr for 2023 : R Chandrasekhar

Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the government will take all the measures that are required for boosting the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in the country, in an interview with news agency PTI. In 2023 will look at widening the manufacturing base beyond mobile phone manufacturing.

“PM Narendramodi Ji’s vision for 2023 is mobile phone exports worth ₹1 lakh crore, with mobile phones featuring in the Top 10 exported category,” Chandrasekhar said.

Mobile phone exports from India were around ₹45,000 crore which was dominated by Apple and Samsung.

The minister said that the government is working to broaden the electronic manufacturing ecosystem beyond mobile phones to increase the global share in the hearables and wearables segment, IT hardware, electronic components etc.

As per a study by electronics component makers body ELCINA, the demand for components in 2020-21 was USD 32 billion (about ₹2.65 lakh crore) for about a USD 70 billion ( ₹5.8 lakh crore) industry and of this, barely USD 10 billion ( ₹82,000 crore) was manufactured locally, and that too with a majority of imported raw materials.

While the minister did not elaborate on the specific measures, official sources have shared that the government has plans to come up with a production linked incentive scheme for hearables, wearables as well as an upgraded PLI scheme for IT hardware and electronics components to boost their local production

“We are going to complement our mobile phone successes by broadening and deepening the ecosystem. The deepening strategy has been there in semiconductor space. It is very clear we want to do more in our component industry. In the broadening, while we are growing in mobile phone space, we want to do well in IT server and hardware space, wearable and audible space. These are all areas that are fast growing globally,” the minister said.

Indian brands like Imagine Marketing (BoAt) and Fire-Boltt now figure in global top selling brands in the wearable and hearable category.

With growth in data driven by 5G and high speed broadband, demand for data centers and in-turn servers are also on the rise.

According to market research firm Research And Markets, the Indian server market was valued at USD 1.6 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.19 percent.

“We want to increase our market share in IT hardware and servers. We are today a very small player in that space. We want to increase our market share for components and global market share in wearables and hearables. It is the Prime Minister’s goal and objective that in all of these areas, we want to be a significant trusted partner to the global enterprises and consumers. If that requires any additional PLI or policy we will do it,” Chandrasekhar said.

Under the PLI scheme for IT Hardware, the government had selected 14 companies for manufacturing IT hardware which include Dell, Rising Stars, Flextronics Technologies, Lava International, Dixon Technologies etc.

The scheme has provision to provide an incentive of up to ₹7,325 crore which is linked to incremental investment and sales of locally manufactured goods.

The IT hardware manufacturers’ body MAIT has asked the government to delink the incentives from the investments as several players already have excess production capacity and increase the total incentive under the scheme to ₹25,000 crore.