In a bid to make India a ‘product developer and manufacturing nation’, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has set up a nine-member task force. The move marks as a step in country’s efforts to position itself as an alternative to China and Vietnam.The task force will be chaired by additional secretary (MeitY), Bhuvnesh Kumar with joint secretary (electronics), Amitesh Kumar Sinha as the member convenor. The task force will be submitting their recommendations in two months.

The task force includes veterans of the electronics industry in India such as Ajai Chowdhry, founder, HCL; Sunil Vachani, chairman, Dixon Technologies; Hari Om Rai, chairman, Lava International; Vivek Bansal, President Engineering, VVDN; Aman Gupta, co-founder, Boat Lifestyle; Sanjay Nayak, managing director, Tejas Networks; and Vivek Tyagi, Chairperson, IESA (India Electronics and Semiconductor Association).

The circular though does not go into the details of the mission, it says that the task force will be deliberating on how to propel India to be a product developer and manufacturer nation.

Industry executives in the know said the task force will look at deepening the domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing and charting the local production story beyond the ambitious production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

The government has been running a Rs 36,000-crore PLI scheme for smartphone manufacturing since 2020. The scheme, now in its third year, has attracted global manufacturing companies including Apple contact manufacturer Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, and Korea’s Samsung, along with Indian companies such as Dixon Technologies, Lava International and more. Later the Union Cabinet had given approval to the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for White Goods (Air Conditioners and LED lights) on 7th April 2021, to be implemented from FY 2021-22 to FY 2028-29 with an outlay of Rs 6,238 Crore.

The PLI Scheme on White Goods is designed to create complete component ecosystem for Air Conditioners and LED Lights Industry in India and make India an integral part of the global supply chains. The Scheme extends an incentive of 6% to 4% on reducing basis on incremental sales for a period of five (5) years subsequent to the base year and one year of gestation period.