Wednesday, July 09, 2014: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended his full support for the growth of electronics manufacturing industry in India. The industry currently needs a lot of incentives and duty restructuring, said Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Commenting on how seriously the Modi government is taking the growth of electronics manufacturing sector, Prasad said, “We can give jobs to 2 crore 80 lakh people if we push electronics manufacturing in a big way that requires lots of incentives, duty restructuring, other things. Because budget is coming I cannot tell you anything, except to say that the PM was all ears and he has given me full support to push electronics manufacturing in a big way.” He was talking to reporters at Indian Women’s Press Corps office.
Prasad said that he has given clearance for setting up at least eight electronics manufacturing clusters ever since he has taken the charge of the ministry in May.
Prasad also expressed his concern over the massive electronics imports that the country is seeing. He said, “India imports electronic goods worth $100 billion every year which is likely to become $400 billion by 2020. The (electronics) import bill may surpass fuel oil import bill.”
For the growth of electronics manufacturing in India, the government has, till date, notified 50 brownfield electronics manufacturing clusters abd has given in-principle approvals to seven greenfield EMCs across 13 states and a Union territory. However, the electronics industry feels that the present duty structure in the industry is a major roadblock. Commentin gon the industry’s budget wish-list, ELCINA Secretary General Rajoo Goel said, “High domestic taxes and anomalies therein cause fiscal disabilities with very high indirect taxes. A 12 per cent GST across the board should be made applicable for electronics value chain.”
The electronics industry has also expressed its need for low-cost financing opportunities to manufacturers, particularly for those products and items allowed to be imported duty free under a WTO agreement.
