The mobile manufacturing industry is battling demonetisation as sales slumped 50 percent in November, but the Ministry of Electronics and IT believes that short-term pain that handset makers are going through will lead to a larger long-term gain for the industry.
To that extent, the ministry is mulling retaining duty differential benefits under GST for handset makers, said Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary for Ministry of Electronics and IT. She, however, said the structure is still evolving.
According to Sundarajan, both the Central and state governments recognise that India has a unique opportunity in electronics, particularly the handset mobile manufacturers. In the last one year, 40 new mobile manufacturing units and 10 component units came to India, she said, adding that the mobile manufacturing industry will be a big beneficiary of Digital India.
The government does recognise that this industry needs a lot of support because of the industry’s ability for value addition and employment opportunity, she said.
She said the IT ministry is currently working on two–three aspects; one is how investments can be fast tracked. Second is rationalising categories that need to be brought in and third is to simplify the process of disbursement while making it more robust.
By Baishakhi Dutta
