With the change of leadership at the electronics, IT and communications ministries, industry players have expressed hope that the new team will look at improving the health of the telecom sector and boosting the electronics manufacturing ecosystem.

Challenges for the new Cabinet Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and his team at the Ministry of Electronics and IT include implementing the new IT rules involving social media companies, sustaining the growth in electronics manufacturing and building growth momentum for domestic companies.

Vaishnaw, who also holds the communications portfolio, has his plate full with the impending 5G rollout, where India lags the global markets, as well as other focus areas like improving the financial health of the sector and providing high-speed broadband connectivity across all villages, as promised by the Prime Minister.

“As the industry readies to usher 5G and catalyse the digital economy, we look forward to working with the new leadership to improve the financial health of the sector and seek their crucial support for building the right infrastructure to revolutionise the sector,” telecom industry body COAI director general SP Kochhar said.  Earlier, the government had set a target of rolling out 5G services by the end of 2020 but it is still to finalise and allocate spectrum for the next generation services.

Vaishnaw’s predecessor Ravi Shankar Prasad took the lead in implementation of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme which attracted participation from global majors like Samsung, Apple’s vendor Foxconn and Wistron, among others.

Investment commitment

These companies have committed investment of ₹11,000 crore under the PLI scheme to manufacture mobile phones worth ₹10.5 lakh crore over the next five years.

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the companies approached the government for relief and a one-year extension was recently granted to them to meet the PLI targets.

Electronic components industry body ELCINA's President Paresh Vasani said the electronics and IT sector has witnessed hectic activity in the last few years where several schemes have been announced for capital investment, production support and infra and cluster development.

“This is encouraging and laudable. There have been gaps in implementation and ELCINA heartily welcomes Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw and expects that the new Minister will focus on this aspect and smoothen the processes. This will generate confidence and pave the way for more investments,” Vasani said.

Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of mobile and electronics devices makers’ body ICEA, said electronics and IT together contribute to about one-fifth of the global GDP with a global market cap of about $16 trillion.

“We therefore expect the leader to be a true visionary with a blend to synthesise the big picture as well as getting the details right...

“The gains made till now are not insignificant especially mobile phone manufacturing which has grown 1100 per cent in the last five years but the real challenge is to make india a global leader,” Mohindroo said.

This is the first time all the ministers in the ministries of electronics and IT, and communications hold technical qualifications.

Bureaucrat-turned-politician Vaishnaw holds a Bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering from Jai Narain Vyas University and Master’s degree in industrial management and engineering from IIT Kanpur.

His colleague, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar is an electrical engineering graduate from Manipal Institute of Technology. He completed Master’s in Computer Science in 1986 from the Illinois Institute of Chicago.

Chandrasekhar has actively participated in issues around communications, data protection and net neutrality as a Member of Parliament.

Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Jesingbhai Chauhan has a diploma in electrical engineering from a government polytechnic in Gujarat.

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