Over Rs.1 lakh crore of electronics manufacturing proposals: Prasad

India has received investment proposals of over Rs.100,000 crore in the last fifteen months for electronics manufacturing in the country, Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday.

"I am happy to announce that in the last fifteen months, investment proposals worth Rs.104,000 crore have been received for electronics manufacturing in the country," Prasad said at an International Chamber of Commerce event here supported by industry chamber FICCI.

The proposals have come from various companies for electronics manufacturing under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS).

The scheme, originally approved by the government in 2012, provides capital subsidy of 20 percent in special economic zones (SEZ) or 25 percent in non-SEZ units engaged in manufacturing of electronics items. In July, the NDA government extended the MSIPS policy by five years.

In the recent period, global majors like Xiaomi and Motorola, along with Lenovo, have commenced assembling smartphones in the country through contract manufacturing by Foxconn and Flextronics respectively.

"The Make in India programme evolved out of the initiatives taken for electronics manufacturing. When I assumed charge as minister last year, there were only two electronics clusters in the country. Now there are 20," Prasad said.

He pointed out that the Digital India programme is transformational and designed to bridge the divide between the "digital haves and have-nots".

"The common man is using digital technology for doing business and his empowerment. In the prime minister's scheme of things, Digital India is for the poor and the underprivileged," he said.

"Digital India is politics neutral, ideology neutral, centre-state neutral. It is India positive," he added.