‘MSME participation key to strengthen local value addition for electronics industry’

Sai Nikesh | The Dollar Business

In a move to boost electronic products manufacturing in India, Government of India has extended the 'Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme' (MSIPS) by five years, besides including 15 new product categories under the scheme. A decision in this regard was said to have been taken at a Cabinet meeting to promote 'Make In India' and 'Digital India' initiatives, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday. Extension of the scheme is being seen as a big boost to the electronic manufacturing in the country and was welcomed by the apex body of electronic industries. “All stakeholders, domestic and global from the electronics manufacturing industry have been watching this policy keenly as it has played a key role in generating strong interest and has encouraged investments in electronics manufacturing,” Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA) told The Dollar Business, welcoming the government's move. The MSIPS Policy has been extended by five years and will go hand in hand with the Electronics Manufacturing Cluster Policy, it informed. To a query on to what extent the MPIS, since its inception in 2012, boosted manufacturing activity in Indian electronic sector, ELCINA said, “We strongly believe that the entire initiatives of establishing electronics manufacturing clusters and populating them with manufacturing units would have got stumped, taking away the advantage and momentum created so far over the last 3 years.” ELCINA also expressed satisfaction over inclusion of 15 new product categories under the scheme. In his remarks, Rajoo Goel, Secretary General, ELCINA, said, “Enabling more and more investments by small and medium enterprises is as important as investments by large companies, because the main objective of M-SIPS is to strengthen the supply chain and local value addition, which can be done only through extensive participation of MSME sector.” Expressing relief at the extension of the M-SIPS, Subhash Goyal, President, ELCINA, said, “This extension would ensure continuity of the virtuous cycle created by the National Policy on Electronics, which needs to be sustained for at least 5-10 more years to bring India at par with the Global Leaders in ESDM (Electronic System Design & Manufacturing) sector.” The new product categories to be covered under the extended scheme include smart cards, consumer appliances (like washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners), electronic product design, optical fibres and Internet of Things (IoT) products, among others. The scheme was also said to have made it easier for industries to receive necessary support from the government at nascent stages itself and is expected to boost manufacturing activity domestically, thus containing dependence on imports.    

July 22, 2015 | 5:40 pm IST.