MeitY Forms Task Force To Help India To Become “Product Developer & Manufacturing Nation”

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has formed a nine-member task force to transform India into a "product developer and manufacturing nation," signalling another step in the country's efforts to position itself as a viable alternative to China and Vietnam.

The task group will be chaired by the additional secretary (MeitY), Bhuvnesh Kumar, with Amitesh Kumar Sinha, joint secretary (electronics), serving as the member convenor.

Ajai Chowdhry, founder of HCL, Sunil Vachani, chairman of Dixon Technologies, Hari Om Rai, chairman of Lava International, Vivek Bansal, President of Engineering, VVDN, Aman Gupta, co-founder of Boat Lifestyle, Sanjay Nayak, managing director of Tejas Networks, and Vivek Tyagi, Chairperson of IESA are among the members of the task force. (India Electronics and Semiconductor Association).

The task force will present its recommendations in two months, according to the circular distributed to task force members.

While the circular does not go into specifics about the goal, it does state that the task force will be deliberating on how to propel India to the status of product developer and manufacturer.

According to industry executives, the task force will look into deepening domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing and charting the local production story beyond the ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) plan.

Since 2020, the government has been operating a Rs 36,000-crore PLI scheme for smartphone manufacturing. The plan, which is now in its third year, has drawn global manufacturing firms such as Apple contract manufacturer Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, as well as Samsung of Korea and Indian firms such as Dixon Technologies, Lava International, and others.

The scheme's goal is to turn India into a smartphone manufacturing hub by luring global manufacturers away from China and Vietnam in order to feed domestic demand and boost exports.

“From what I understand, the goal will be to increase electronics manufacturing with higher value addition. While the PLI scheme boosted mobile phone assembly in India, value addition is low. Assembly line workers have also dominated job growth,” an executive with knowledge of the situation.

According to an ICEA and ICRIER report, local value addition is anticipated to be around 25 per cent by the end of this fiscal year.

The government should now consider a plan that promotes equipment design in India, procurement of components, and then complete manufacturing in India, according to the executive, adding that the government should encourage the chip design ecosystem to participate and generate high-paying jobs.