A few weeks ago you announced the production linked incentive scheme for manufacturing of electronics. It seems to be a big success with 22 applications coming in. Can you take us through the details? As many as three contract manufacturers of Apple for instance have come up?
Let me tell you very clearly that this is a production linked incentive where you get incentive based on your production. Atmanirbhar Bharat it is not against any country, it is India positive. The plan is to make India a big hub of electronic manufacturing global supply chain. India being a major economy of the world would also reinforce the global economy. That is the whole benchmark of Atmanirbhar Bharat or Make In India.

I announced the scheme in April and the scheme ended on 31st of July. What is remarkable is that even during the time of the corona pandemic, all the major mobile manufacturers, contract manufacturers and also component manufacturers have chosen to apply in this scheme in such an exciting manner. They will be manufacturing mobile components etc. worth Rs 11.5 lakh crore. They will export products worth Rs 7 lakh crore in the coming five years and they will be giving jobs to 300,000 Indians directly and 900,000 Indians indirectly.

What does it indicate? It indicates the trust in India as a good investment and manufacturing destination. Why? Because India is a robust democracy led by a globally respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi who believes in ease of doing business; number two, we have good human resources, engineers and other technical qualified people. Third, India is a huge market by itself. It is a great day for the government, for Atmanirbhar Bharat and me personally that in spite of the challenging times of corona, the big manufacturers have trusted the India story.

Since 2014, you, the Prime Minister and various other ministers have been inviting investors and we started seeing the first Made In India iPhone last year. I still remember the tweet you had put out with that first iPhone that was assembled in India. What exactly is Apple, Samsung going to do?
Before I come to Apple and Samsung, you must understand that in these challenging times Facebook invested India in a big way, Google invested in India in a very big way. Now all the major companies are seeking to invest in India digitally speaking because programmes like digital India, Make In India are being globally recognised and are also driving the global digital economy in every substantive measure. They understand India is a good market and a good country for value addition and so they are coming.

Now as far as your query about the two mobile companies are concerned, their business plan is their jurisdiction. I should not make any particular comment except to flag that both Apple and Samsung among themselves control nearly 60% of the global mobile sales value.

Samsung manufactures on its own and also does some contract manufacturing. Apple goes for substantial contract manufacturing. If most of the Taiwanese companies who undertake contract manufacturing for Apple namely Foxconn, Wistron, Pegatron and their other sister companies have chosen to come as five global champions, that is a very robust indication. That is the only thing I can tell you. I am very happy that Apple has started assembling from India.

The first thing I had tweeted was ‘Designed in California, assembled in India.’ Now they will be making in India. Hence the huge production base in India and therefore I welcome Apple as I said in my press conference. I welcome Samsung too. I remember in 2014 or 2015, as an IT Electronic Minister, I had gone to South Korea, I had visited Samsung headquarters. I said it is time for you to invest in India and they have come with a very big facility in Noida. The UP government also gave them help. I said India is a good market for you but also start exporting. Therefore they have also applied.

I am happy about all these projections — Rs 11.5 lakh crore for manufacturing, exports worth Rs 7 lakh crore and the number of jobs to be created. These are not my number, these numbers are their projections which I have articulated and therefore it will lead to further value addition. Our estimation is the present value addition which is 12 to 13% or 14% is going to rise to 35% to 40%. It is just the beginning. I have instructed my officials to closely monitor the situation. I will do it myself. Further value addition supply chain reinforcement, finished products components etc. should be accelerated, that is how I see it.

You have also got Indian companies that have applied. Whether it is Lava or Dixon or Micromax, clearly they have plans to manufacture a lot more and that may cut down the imports from countries like China. India has decided that it is going to restrict imports whether it is by increasing duties or by bringing back the licence raj for televisions. Is what we are seeing currently for televisions, to be extended for other electronics as well?
First of all, the Make In India or Atmanirbhar Bharat is only India positive, it is not against any country at all, we are very clear about it. We are giving incentives in the sense that India has all the potential, all the good technical qualified human resources, a very facilitating and supporting government to make it happen. We came with those programmes and the companies, the manufacturers, the supply chain are appreciating that.

In 2014, we had just two mobile factories and from merely 6 crore units of mobile phones, we have gone up to 33 crore. Electronic manufacturing rose 25% every year under our charge. As far as mobiles and other added components are concerned, 40 companies have applied for component manufacturing incentives and that includes PCB companies from Germany, Israel and America who have applied and we are very happy about it. We have medical electronics, surgical electronics and consumer electronics. From mobile phones to gadgets to television, India has the potential and the government will play the role of a facilitator that is all I would like to comment.