Driven by the Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, the mobile handset manufacturing eco-system in India has helped the country save over Rs 3 lakh crore by substituting imports of completely-built units (CBU) with locally manufactured and assembled handsets and has helped in creating over 450000 jobs during the past four years.
According to reports at least 120 mobile and its components manufacturing units have flourished in different parts of the country in the last. India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) confirmed that over 225 million handsets were manufactured in the year 2017-18, which is almost 80 percent of the total market requirement of the country.
As per ICEA estimates, the collective value of mobile phone manufactured in India in the current financial year, 2018-19, will reach Rs 1,65,000 crore and the expected turnover of units stand at 290 million handsets in the same year.
ICEA chairman & national president, Pankaj Mohindroo, has been quoted as saying that, “Most global handset brands and manufacturers are eyeing India, which is the world’s fastest growing smartphone market, having overtaken the US last year to become the world’s second largest smartphone market after China.”
“Mobile phone imports will trickle down to insignificant levels of around five to seven percent of the market (less than Rs. 1000 crore/month) by the end of 2018 financial year,” Mohindroo said, adding that India is moving towards almost zero imports for mobile phones in the coming years.
As India moves into the fourth year of Modi governance, the country can proudly showcase several landmark policy initiatives, ‘make in India’ is one of them, that have lifted the mood of the nation which had witnessed ten years of policy paralysis under the Congress-led UPA.