Centre to set up 18 electronic manufacturing clusters: Prasad

GURUGRAM: The central government plans to set up 18 electronics manufacturing clusters in 400 towns and cities, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday.

He said that India’s electronics manufacturing market would be of USD 400 billion by 2020 and the government is focusing on domestic production of technology products.

Prasad was speaking at a session on ‘IT-ITES and ESDM: The next era of State s Growth and Innovation at Pravasi Haryana Diwas-2017, here.

He lauded the initiative taken by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his government to promote IT services in the state.

He said that when he “assumed the office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the total export of India was worth Rs 11,000 crore which has increased up to Rs 1,26,000 crore, till December 2016,” a state government release quoted him.

Indians have passion for technology, therefore, the digital eco system in the country would change in future, he said.

He said that digital payments is going to create a new infrastructure in India. “Therefore, digital payment infrastructure and service would become a rising industry,” he said.

He said that a minimum of 10 million Point of Sale (POS) machines and industrial machines were needed apart from mobile wallets.

He said that Haryana has a lot of potential and possibilities for innovations in the fields of digital payment, internet, artificial intelligence, digital education and cyber security.

These are great potential for small and middle level enterprise to grow, he added.

He said that the number of mobile phones in India is equal to the population of France and Italy.

About 42 mobile phone manufacturing companies and 30 component factories have been established in the country, he said.

He said that India has nearly 105 crore mobile phones, 10 crore Aadhaar Cards, 500 billion internet connections and 350 billion smartphones.