- The panel met with Taiwanese, Korean, American and European companies last week
- Work is ongoing on a report on how to ease Indian’s domestic policies and wean these companies away to India
- Experts are of the opinion that the thrust of electronics exports has to be on smartphones
A high-level panel set up by the Prime Minister’s Office has sought inputs from over a dozen global companies, including Apple, Samsung and Intel, on what they need to make India their production base and an electronics export hub, underlining New Delhi’s aggressive push to attract foreign investment by wooing manufacturers away from China.
The panel met with Taiwanese, Korean, American and European companies last week and is now working out a report on how to ease Indian’s domestic policies and wean these companies away to India as soon as possible, a person briefed on the meeting told Economic Times.
The panel, which is working at breakneck speed to submit its findings to the PMO, is of the opinion that the thrust of electronics exports has to be on smartphones, another person familiar with the discussions told the English Daily.
A lucrative opportunity
After oil, electronic products, including smartphones, are the largest contributor to India’s import bill. India sees the Sino-US trade tensions as a window of opportunity to offer itself as an attractive base for manufacturing and exports.
The government also realises that it must move fast. Vietnam has already attracted South Korea’s Samsung for manufacturing operations on the back of attractive sops. Cheaper imports from Vietnam through a free-trade agreement with ASEAN has hurt production in India.
According to Economic Times, officials said smartphones comprise either the largest or second-largest chunk of shipments of the top 10 importing nations such as the US, Germany and Japan. India must make it the highest priority to capture a large share of this pie.
