Electronics industry has received Rs 1,20,000 crore investment: Govt

With efforts on to make India an electronics manufacturing hub, the government on Wednesday said the total investment in the sector has now reached Rs 1,20,000 crore, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday. He told the Lok Sabha that the government was promoting electronics manufacturing in a very big way and giving incentives and providing electronics clusters to investors. "When our government came (in 2014), the total investment in electronics manufacturing was Rs 11,500 crore. Now it has reached Rs 1,20,000 crore. That is the kind of investment we are getting," he said during Question Hour.

Prasad said the government was working to make India a big hub of electronics manufacturing in which the Centre and state governments have to play a crucial part. "Therefore, we would like to say that by 2020, India must also promote export of consumer goods. I want to assure this House that a large number of companies like Foxtone, Apple and others are keen to invest in India and we are creating an enabling atmosphere," he said. The Minister said two companies have shown interest in electronics chip manufacturing and government's effort is to make India an important centre of chip manufacturing.

"I want to inform that now India is making about 11 crore mobile phones. That is a growth of 83 per cent in quantity terms this year. The growth of LED is 37 per cent. Others include LED light is 65 per cent and tablet is 27 per cent. We are promoting it. I had called a meeting of the IT Ministers of all States," he said.

Prasad said government has given a lot of duty differential to permit both foreign investors and local manufacturers. "I want to tell you, ... Indian companies are making good phones and foreign companies are also getting a place in India," he said.