Government works for betterment of local IT sector

Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, India, recently made some landmark announcements.

Minister for Communications and IT and Law and Justice Kapil Sibal handed over Investment Approvals regarding government financial support to investments worth Rs. 961 crore in the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing sector (ESDMS) in India in presence of representatives from Industry, Industry Associations, MSIPS applicants and media persons on July 12, 2013 at DeitY.

Under this initiative, DeitY has accepted Rs. 406 crore of investment proposals for M/s. Samsung India Electronics for manufacture of smart phones at Noida. The project is expected to be implemented in next 6 months. Apart from this, Bosch Automotive Electronics India and Sahasra Electronics have also received a go ahead.

Speaking on the occasion, Sibal said, "It is important to boost manufacturing and Government is trying to promote manufacturing to create employment and bring in latest technologies in the country, to serve the domestic market as well as exports. Finalization of MSIPS application in such a short span of time will help create the right atmosphere for more investment attraction in the ESDM Sector in India."

As per department's declaration, the MSIPS has received good investment response and applications involving investments of more than Rs. 4,600 crore have been received till now. These are under various stages of appraisal and approval. These include Rs. 450 crore of investment in Consumer Electronics and Appliances, Rs. 410 crore in Hand held devices, Rs. 1,770 crore in Telecom Products, Rs. 310 crore in LEDs and LED Products, Rs. 45 crore in Electronic Components, Rs. 610 crore in Automotive Electronics, Rs. 40 crore in Power Electronics, Rs. 210 crore in Strategic Electronics and Rs. 750 crore in ATMP - Semiconductor manufacturing.

On this announcements, Ajay Kumar, joint secretary, Department of Information Technology stated, "The month of July saw several new landmarks from the Electronics System design and Manufacturing perspective. It saw the first three approvals under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (Modified SIPS) being handed over." Furthermore, he stated, " It saw the in-principle approvals to three Greenfield Electronic Manufacturing Clusters in the country being approved by the Steering Committee for Clusters. It also saw the Compulsory Registration Order come into effect on July 3, 2013. The export incentives have become available for several new electronics products."

Requirements for compulsory registration can be deemed as a historic change in standards for the entire electronics sector in the country. To further facilitate the registration order procedure, DeitY has set up a portal (www. www.electronicstds.gov.in) for filing online applications under the 'Electronics and IT Goods (Requirement of Compulsory Registration) Order, 2012'.

In addition, policy for providing preference to domestically manufactured electronics goods has being reviewed. Recently, a meeting regarding with this agenda was held in Prime
Minister's Office on July 5, 2013.

Various issues regarding the provisions and implementation were discussed and after a detailed discussion on the current provisions of the PMA Policy, the status of various notifications on PMA in government procurement and PMA in the private sector on security related products and pros and cons of alternative approaches to handling security
related products, the following decisions were agreed to:

i. The entire policy on Providing Preference to Domestically Manufactured Electronics Goods (PMA Policy) will be revisited and reviewed

ii. The overall policy on PMA will be recalibrated and submitted to the cabinet

iii. No notifications on PMA in the private sector on security related products will be issued till the PMA Policy is reviewed and any notifications in the draft stage will be withheld

iv. The revised proposal will incorporate a detailed provision for project/ product/ Sector specific security standards, alternative modes of security certification, and a roadmap for buildup of domestic testing capacity

v. The revised proposal on PMA in the private sector for security related products will not have domestic manufacturing requirements, percentage based or otherwise

vi. The revised proposal will incorporate an arrangement for a centralized clearing house mechanism for all notifications under the PMA Policy

vii. The National Security Council Secretariat will provide a definition of ‘security' for usage in the context of security related issues concerning products, project or sectors

viii. DeitY will bring a final Note to the Cabinet on the revised policy within 4 weeks.