Thursday, October 16, 2014: An investment proposal from Samsung in electronics manufacturing sector has been cleared by telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, just a day ahead of his visit to South Korea in order to encourage more investments from companies.
Prasad told media that he has cleared the proposal by Samsung under modified special incentive package scheme or MSIPS. Further details were not disclosed by the minister. Among all the companies that have expressed interest in investing in Indian market under MSIPS, Samsung featured among the first set of the companies’ list. Back in July last year, the government cleared Rs 4,060 million investment proposal by Samsung in mobile manufacturing sector. Now the company is allowed to foray into electronics manufacturing.
Prasad will be in Korea for five days, meeting Korean tech giants and inviting them to invest in India in electronics manufacturing sector. The government’s target is to abolish import of electronics items 100 per cent by 2020. Official estimates reveal, by 2020 the electronics market in India will be worth $400 billion and if measures are not taken properly to increase domestic manufacturing in electronics sector, then imports will be around $300 billion by that year only. Prasad will meet senior officials from Samsung and LG Electronics in Seoul. Prasad said that main focus will remain on consumer electronics, mobile phones, smart cards and batteries.
Prasad will also try to convince Samsung to become a part of the Indian infrastructure segment as smart cities are in development. The minister will also be attending a meeting on information communication technology. The meeting has been organised by Korean technology minister in Busan. The top personalities with whom Prasad is scheduled to meet during his visit to Korea include Samsung’s president and CEO, IT and Mobile Communication, JK Shin, Samsung SDI CEO Sang Jin Park, LG Electronics VC and CEO Bon-Joon Koo and LG Chem’s president of the Energy Solution, Young Soo Kwon.
