MeitY launches pilot project to make India global hub of electronics repair

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Wednesday launched the Electronics Repair Services Outsourcing (ERSO) initiative to help India become a leader in electronics repair.

The pilot project is being conducted in Bengaluru and will run for three months starting today (March 31). 

The project has been identified as a game-changer for India and the ERSO industry is likely to fetch India up to $20 billion in revenue and also generate millions of jobs over the next five years, according to a statement by the ministry.

The policy and process changes required for the ERSO initiative have been introduced over the last few months by different departments of the government after in-depth consultations with the Repair Industry.

According to the ministry, MeitY, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change worked together with the repair industry on the policy which seeks to make India an attractive destination for the repair of electronics. 

Five companies -- Flex, Lenovo, CTDI, R-Logic, and Aforeserve -- have volunteered for the pilot project. After the pilot is completed, a detailed assessment will be carried out by the IT ministry and modifications will be made to the process and policy, the release said.

The ERSO project will support Mission LiFE. Mission LiFE was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP26) to bring individual behaviors to the forefront of the global climate action narrative. It aims the replacing the 'use-and-dispose' economy with a circular economy model, which would be defined by "mindful and deliberate utilisation". The mission seeks to nudge individuals to undertake simple acts in their daily lives that can mitigate climate change.

The ERSO project will “enable the extension of device life globally by providing cheap and reliable repair of ICT (Information Technology) products for the globe”, the release said. 

The project has been identified as a game-changer for India and the ERSO industry is likely to fetch India up to $20 billion in revenue and also generate millions of jobs over the next five years, according to a release by the ministry.