IT secretary asks mobile industry not to miss out on tapping design, export opportunity

IT Secretary S Krishnan on Wednesday exhorted the industry not to ignore the design elements of the value chain and said that India should build on its existing strengths and aim for 'India designed-India developed' mobile phones.

Speaking at a Broadband India Forum (BIF) event, Krishnan also noted that India should position itself as a competitive destination where players can manufacture for the domestic market, as well as exports.

The mobile phones manufactured in India in volume terms have reached a "steady state" when seen against the backdrop of the overall size of the domestic market and the average expected lifespan of handsets (with replacement cycle seen at three years), he said.

Optimising production capacities from here on would require players to also tap the export markets, he added.

Encouraging players to think about 'India designed-India developed' mobile phones, Krishnan said that playing on the strengths of both design and manufacturing capabilities would lead to greater value creation in the country.

The big question around 'what is the design of the future' is something that can be answered by India along with other countries, he asserted.

"Given the kind of design strengths we have, and given the kind of capacities we have, the element of design is something that can't be ignored and needs to be an important goal for the mobile industry," he said.

He noted that the electronics manufacturing pie has increased to about $115 billion, of which mobile phones constitute the fastest-growing segment.

"It accounts for about 45 percent of the sector. The overall manufacturing of mobile phones is currently at about ₹4.2 lakh crore or roughly $52.5 billion. That is why, it is a significant part of what the overall electronics sector in the country represents today," he said.

Continuing on the momentum around India becoming the second-largest mobile manufacturer in the world, with global players like Samsung, Apple and Google making their latest-generation smartphones in India, BIF on Wednesday unveiled a report titled `India’s Mobile Manufacturing Ecosystem: Challenges and Opportunities'.

"India’s mobile phone manufacturing in value has risen to ₹4.1 lakh crore in India in the last 10 years due to strategic government policy measures like Product Linked Initiative (PLI) and Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) scheme.

"This report analyses this journey through an empirical study that investigates issues such as the impact of tariff and customs rates, India’s global value chains (GVC) insertion, challenges related to the ease of doing business (EoDB), and women workforce participation opportunities and ways of reducing the gender gap and increasing the gender diversity," BIF said in a release.