The government’s new Rs 62,500 crore mobile manufacturing scheme, notified recently, recognises that India’s electronics ambitions cannot be built on manufacturing alone. Spread over five years, the scheme aims to increase mobile phone manufacturing in the country and nurture Indian mobile phone brands. That second objective is particularly important.
After earlier Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes boosted a lot of global manufacturing, the new initiative explicitly supports Indian mobile brands, signalling a decisive shift from assembling products for others to building globally competitive desi brands. Even China first started assembling devices for global companies before creating brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Huawei.
