MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai conducted a webinar to launch Research Study on ‘Promoting Electronic Manufacturing in India’ on October 14, 2020. The webinar was addressed by Mr. Saurabh Gaur, IAS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India and Dr. Ajai Chowdhry, Founder – HCL, Padma Bhushan Awardee (2011). Other speakers at the event were Dr. (Ms.) Rashmi Banga, Senior Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD and Ms. Smita Purushottam, Ambassador (Retd.), Founder & Chairperson, Science, Indigenous Technology and Advanced Research Accelerator (SITARA).

Mr. Gaur informed that Government of India is taking efforts to develop 500 champion MSMEs in the electronic sector. Global and Indian electronic companies have committed USD 100 billion production, 80% of which is for exports, under the production linked incentive scheme so far, he added.

Mr. Gaur informed that India will soon join the league of leading mobile phone exporters such as China and Vietnam, that annually export USD 140 billion and USD 60 billion worth of phones respectively. In the coming months, India will replicate success in mobile phone manufacturing in computing devices such as laptops, tablets, notebooks and servers, the joint secretary added.

Dr. Chowdhry pointed out that India has the potential to capture a significant size of the USD 360 billion global market for IT and datacom products. Government of India should support manufacturers of desktops, tablets, networking products by providing production linked incentives (PLIs). He called for policy steps to encourage indigenous design and production, right from chip to the entire electronic system.

Dr. (Ms.) Banga said, “India needs to block extension of the WTO Moratorium on Electronic Transmissions in the upcoming WTO Ministerial Meeting as the Moratorium not only allows duty free imports of many luxury items like video games, movies, music and e-books into the country, but can also have severe adverse implications for the manufacturing sector. Unregulated imports of software which is electronically transmitted can be used in digital technologies like 3D printers by foreign firms to 3D print many of the currently manufactured products, within the national boundaries of India but without physical presence.”

Ms. Purushottam suggested that the government should restore incentives for domestic R&D and provide direct funding to small businesses for R&D as per America’s SBIR model. 

Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai delivered welcome address. He raised hope that India can be a global leader in electronic manufacturing and join the league of leading exporters such China, South Korea and Japan through concerted policy thrust on this sector.

Ms. Rupa Naik, Senior Director, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai proposed vote of thanks for the event. The webinar was attended by representatives from trade and industry, consular corps, research institutions and government departments.