Today, 99 per cent of mobile phones used here are made in India. This is in stark contrast to the situation 10 years ago when out of 100 phones, as much as 99 per cent were imported, the Minister for Electronics and IT said while a session at CII Partnership Summit 2023.

“And now the ecosystem is also shifting to the country. When it comes to mobile phone manufacturing India is number two in manufacturing, and number three in exports,” the minister said.

This year, the mobile phone exports will touch USD 9.5-10 billion, he added.

To spur the supply side, major initiatives have been undertaken by the Centre, including a sharp focus on promoting the ecosystem and ensuring a clearly laid out policy framework that is stable and consistent, according to him.

The government is focused on creating and fostering the semiconductor industry and has been actively engaging with all stakeholders.

The government is “committed to do what’s required to succeed”, the minister said.

“…that is creating credibility, leading us to an inflection point where the first fab should be declared in coming few weeks and that’s just beginning,” Vaishnaw promised audiences.

Given the progress on all fronts in India’s semiconductor blueprint, “we should see a vibrant semiconductor industry in the coming 3-4 years,” he noted.

India’s strategy of pursuing a combination of focused consumption and public investment path has led to sustainable growth and moderate inflation, the minister said. The minister mentioned India’s payment platform, saying the mechanism is such that no single company or player can dominate the country’s payment economy.

“This is very different from the approach that many other countries took. Our PM was very keen at the time of launching Digital India…one of the fundamental policy directives he set is that we should not let some big tech companies monopolise our economy. We should make sure that fruits of digital India should reach each and every participant in the economy,” the minister said adding a similar approach was taken for Cowin platform as well.

“Imagine the power of such population-level solutions,” he said.
Further, the minister said the Prime Minister has given a clear direction that any country keen on using these solutions are welcome to do so.

“We very humbly offer it to you. This is our contribution to the world. Because we believe this is one planet, one family and one future,” the minister said.

Stressing on affordability element, the minister said the cost of data is one-seventh of what it used to cost 7-8 years back.

“It happened because we laid a very clear policy framework for the telecom sector. Telecom sector is the entry to digital world, with telecom sector which is stable, healthy and competitive, you can create a situation where data and digital will be affordable,” he said.

There will always be challenges in ensuring that data connectivity reaches the last mile, and that is where public investment will have to come in, Vaishnaw asserted.

“Our PM has been very focused that each person in the country should be able to get high-quality broadband, 4G and 5G services. That is why we are investing about Rs 45,000 crore in providing telecom services – 4G and 5G – to the last mile,” he said.

The minister said time has come for one more trusted source in global telecom technology scene. Today, the world is dominated by a handful of players “and that is a barrier in many ways”.

“So we decided to develop a world-class telecom stack end to end, the radio network, core network, network management system, billing management system, we took that as a challenge and within 2.5 years the telecom stack, which is world-class and on many parameters better than established players is ready, getting deployed as we speak,” he said.
On BharatOS, the Minister said it is time to ruggedise it, and make it scalable.

Railways in a global industry with important players the world over and India’s focus has been on increasing Railways’ carrying capacity significantly, Vaishnaw said.

“In 2021-22 we added close to 184 million tonnes of additional cargo. This year also we are adding 90 million tonnes of additional cargo. So the curve of Railway share has turned the tide. There are many national and international players who have joined this journey but our focus is `make in India’,” he said.

Any global player who wants to use this vast network as a big source of demand is “welcome”, Vaishnaw said exhorting players to “make in India and design in India”.

The Minister said skilling and training are the biggest challenges that the global tech sector is facing.

India has chosen the path of working closely with the industry on initiatives like the future skills programme. At the same time, the New Education policy gives flexible construct to colleges and Universities.

To a question on the timeline for the first bullet train, Vaishnaw said “bullet train is a project that is fundamentally changing the way we work.” The project is moving forward at a fast pace, he informed.

“Right now, we are targeting August 2026 as the date for running the first train, and 2027 for a larger section being opened,” Vaishnaw who is also Minister for Railways, said. At the start of the session, the Minister lauded RRR and Elephant Whisperer, even asking audiences how many had watched RRR. He urged those who hadn’t, to go and watch the movie.

“They have made us proud and what is more important is that the regional flavour of Indian languages and Indian culture, the diversity of Indian culture that is being celebrated on a global platform today,” Vaishnaw said.

https://indianexpress.com/article/business/economy/first-semiconductor-fab-will-be-declared-in-a-few-weeks-ashwini-vaishnaw-8497957/