IT Ministry, ICEA partner to boost global value chains, scale exports

New Delhi : The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Tuesday partnered with the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) to work towards increasing exports and the share in global value chains (GVCs) to help the country reach the goal of a $1 trillion digital economy.

The ICEA, which is the apex industry body for the mobile and electronics industry, along with MeitY released a vision document — a call to action which analyses the challenges and outlines key success factors for increasing electronics exports, while benchmarking against competing nations. It makes recommendations to increase scale, competitiveness and domestic value addition over the next 1,000 days.

In his address to the Heads of Indian Missions on August 6, as well as in his Independence Day speech this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged stakeholders to increase exports and share in GVCs, by making products made in India, globally competitive.

“The Prime Minister’s mandate is crystal clear. We are preparing a 1,000-day plan to broaden and deepen electronics manufacturing, exports and share in GVCs. This vision document will be a critical input in policymaking. It highlights the collaborative effort between industry and government,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and IT, Skill Development and Enterpreneurship.

The vision document is the first of a two-part series. The second volume will present product0wise strategies and forecasts as part of the campaign to build a $1 trillion digital economy, in pursuit of reaching $5 trillion GDP.

“We need tactical and strategic steps for each product line to build India’s competitiveness to meet the PM’s vision. Government and industry need to collaborate seamlessly in this effort without wasting a minute. We know the issues and the solutions. It’s time to implement,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.

The vision document makes recommendations on short-term (1-4 years) and long-term (5-10 years) strategies to increase electronics exports from India, shift the ecosystem as part of capturing the China+1 investments, and expand exports by increasing competitiveness and scale.