Indian-handsetA recent study by Assocham-KPMG titled “Accelerating growth and ease of doing businesses” has revealed Indian handset market already crossing a shipment by 70 million in 2017 —so far,  standing at 350 million —as compared to 280 million in 2016.

 

“Robust growth of the handset market coupled with enhanced connectivity of telecom services have been pivotal in growth of various industries such as retail, manufacturing, IT, e-commerce etc.,” the study noted.

“Further, ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, and other initiatives taken by the government played a pivotal role to achieve an 85 per cent growth in handset manufacturing recorded in the year 2015-16 (INR 54,000 crores) over the previous year, which in 2016-17 grew to INR 90,000 crores,” Assocham said.

 

According to Assocham, the study further suggests to boost handset manufacturing in India, while highlighting industry’s expectation from the government may increase the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) incentive.

 

The study has noted industry’s view that the government may increase the MEIS export incentive, currently at two per cent, and introduce new incentives, enhance duty drawback to attract more players to ramp up manufacturing which would also create more jobs in India.

 

“With the primary objective of making the handset manufacturing market favourable for existing players and attracting new players, the government may consider introducing reforms with regard to tax exemptions, favourable rates, incentives etc.,” Assocham said.

 

A wider penetration of “feature” phones and “smart” phones would facilitate seamless application of upcoming technologies such as 5G, M2M, Internet of Things (IoT), etc., and also enable the government in achieving targets that it set under the flagship ‘Digital India’ initiative, adds the study.