On Tuesday (14th November), Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbed Congress scion Rahul Gandhi as ‘Murkhon ke Sardar (Lord of fools)’ during an election campaign rally in Betul in Madhya Pradesh.
While addressing the public, he hit out at Rahul Gandhi for falsely claiming that only ‘made in China’ phones are available in India. “Yesterday I heard that an expert from the Congress party claimed that everyone in India has a ‘made in China’ cell phone,” PM Modi remarked.
“The expert said that all phones in India are made in China. Murkhon ke Sardar (Lord of Fools), where do these people live in this world? Congress leaders have developed a mental illness of undermining the achievements of the country,” he lambasted Rahul Gandhi without taking his name.
PM Modi also took potshots at the Congress scion’s mysterious foreign trips. “I don’t know the foreign spectacles that they wear which makes them unable to see the development in the country,” he was heard saying.
“The truth is that today India is the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world. When Congress was at the centre, mobiles worth less than ₹ 20,000 crore were manufactured every year in India. Today, mobile phones worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore are made in India,” the Indian Prime Minister said.
He further emphasised, “India exports mobile phones worth approximately ₹1 lakh crore to other countries.” PM Modi said that those who remember ‘Make in India’ only before election season do not understand the importance of Swadeshi (goods manufactured in India).
He highlighted that people are now ‘vocal for local’ and have purchased India-made products worth ₹4.4 lakh crores during Diwali.
Mobile manufacturing in India
The ‘Make-in-India’ initiative of the Narendra Modi government has seen a 23% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23% in mobile phone shipments.
According to a report by global research firm Counterpoint, India is now the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world (with 2 billion cumulative units).
According to Counterpoint Director, Tarun Pathak, more than 98% of shipments of mobile phones in India in 2022 were in fact ‘made in India.’ The local manufacturing was down to 19% when the Modi govt took office in 2014.
Research analyst Prachir Singh noted, “Under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the government introduced the Phased Manufacturing Program and increased import duties on completely built units and some key components over the years to push local manufacturing and value addition. Under the Self-Reliant India scheme, the government introduced the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for 14 sectors, including mobile phone manufacturing,”
In the meantime, Alphabet Inc announced that it will manufacture its Pixel smartphones in India. The devices, starting with Pixel 8, are expected to begin rolling out in markets from 2024, Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of devices and services, Google, said at the ‘Google for India 2023’ event.
Tata Electronics Private Limited, a Tata group company, will begin manufacturing iPhones in India for domestic and global markets soon, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced on social media platform X in October this year.
