Manufacturers assure delivery of 11 crore set top boxes for digitisation

Manufacturers of set top boxes have assured that they will make digitization an India success story and fulfil the Make in India mission of the new government.

Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Bimal Julka held a meeting with domestic set top box (STB) manufacturers Friday to review their readiness to meet the demand of 11 crore STBs for Phase-III and IV of Cable TV digitisation. During the meeting the manufacturers assured Julka that they would seize this opportunity to make digitisation an India success story and fulfil the Make in India mission of the new government, according to a ministry of information and broadcasting statement.

The manufacturers told the secretary that they have sufficient installed capacity to meet full demand of STBs locally.

They said that these measures would help the indigenous manufacturing industry to give employment to about 50,000 people and would attract an investment of about Rs.500 crore. It would also generate local support facility for repair of STBs and help in smooth implementation of digitization in the country.

After taking over as Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar had taken up the issue to support indigenous manufacturing of STBs. On Aug 13, the finance ministry extended the facility to domestic STB manufacturers that they would be charged Central Sales Tax at 2 percent against VAT of 12-14 percent being paid earlier.

The phase-III of digitization would cover all other urban areas (municipal corporations/municipalities) which were not covered in first two phases. Phase-IV would cover the rest of India. It is estimated that another 11 crore STBs would be required to achieve complete digitisation.

The meeting was attended by members of Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEAMA) and representatives from STB manufacturers.

--Indo-Asian News Service

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