Rs.1.2 lakh crore electronics manufacturing proposals got: Prasad

The government has received proposals worth Rs.120,294 crore for electronics manufacturing in India till date, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Tuesday.

"When this government came to power in June 2014, the proposals in electronics manufacturing were worth only Rs.11,800 crore. But it has now risen substantially. Till yesterday (Monday) we have received proposals worth Rs.120,294 crore. Out of which we have given in-principal approval to projects worth Rs.18,000 crore," the minister told reporters.

Prasad also said 5.4 crore mobile phone units were manufactured in 2014-15, which figure has more than doubled in 2015-16 to 11 crore.

Talking about the budget, the minister said domestic manufacturers of routers, broadband modems, set-top boxes, digital video recorders, network video recorders, CCTV camera, lithium-ion battery would enjoy duty advantage of 8.5 percent compared to imported goods.

"Domestic value addition in mobile phones, battery, wired headsets would enjoy a duty advantage of 10.5 percent compared to imported goods," Prasad added.

He said IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) exports from the country has crossed $100 billion.

"India's share in the global IT services outsourcing presently is 56 percent, which is growing every year," Prasad added.

Talking about Postal Department, the minister said India Post has installed more than 576 ATMs and has become the largest core banking network having 18,231 branches overtaking the State Bank of India.

"By March 2016, the number of ATMs will touch 1,000," the minister added.