Apple vendors, Samsung line up for mobile manufacturing

Applications by Taiwanese giants Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron, which are contract manufacturers for Apple and other electronic makers such as Xiaomi, along with Samsung and other homegrown companies such as Lava, Dixon Electronics, Karbonn, Optiemus Infracom, and Micromax have been submitted under the Government’s ambitious Rs 41,000 crore (US$ 5.82 billion) production linked incentive schemes (PLI) for mobile manufacturing in India.

These companies are promising investments and employment in Indian electronic manufacturing space as the Government is planning to increase the local production over the next few years, not just to reduce imports but also to increase production for exporting.

According to an official involved, “We have received a strong response and hope to finalise the winners- who will be positioned as champion companies in the mobile manufacturing- very soon.”

Two applications are submitted by Foxconn, one under Hon Hai Precision and another under Rising Star. Similarly, Dixon Electronics and Lava have submitted two applications.

An empowered committee (EC) is made which includes NITI Aayog CEO Mr Amitabh Kant, and other senior officers, including secretaries for IT, economic affairs secretary, expenditure, revenue, and industry apart from the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). This will consider the application is eligible as found by project management agency under the scheme.

Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, said, “The scheme would provide incentives of 4-6 per cent on incremental sales over the base year of 2019-20, is aimed at giving a fillip to the Government’s Make in India programme and recently launched Atmanirbhar Bharat.   

 The Government intends to select five Indian and five international companies under the scheme. These will act as the engines in promoting the growth of Indian mobile phone manufacturing not only in India but at a global level. The aim of the scheme is to position India as a strong competitive manufacturing base when compared to countries such as China and Vietnam, which have been so far been attracting massive investments.

Mr Pankaj Mahindroo, Chairman of India Cellular and Electronic Association said, “The enthusiasm towards this ‘champion policy’ will see India surging towards global leadership in mobile phone manufacturing and exports”.

So far, Foxconn have committed an investment of US$ 1 billion in India for boosting manufacturing for Apple, while Pegatron has just entered and is lining up new investments. It is seen that companies are shifting base from China and reducing their dependence on China.

According to the industry estimates, mobile manufacturing companies have the potential to get an incentive of around Rs 7,500 crore (US$ 1.06 billion) if they scale up production by about Rs 1.5 lakh crore (US$ 21.28 billion) over the next five years under PLI scheme.

The government expects to generate a cumulative manufacturing revenue potential of Rs 10 lakh crore (US$ 141.86 billion) through the PLI scheme and other ones such as those promoting electronics clusters and component manufacturing, said a ministry official.

Shri Sanjay Dhotre inaugurates BHARAT AIRFIBER, a last mile telecom connectivity solution based on Radio Network

Mr Sanjay Dhotre, Union Minister of State for HRD, Electronics, Communication, and IT, Govt Of India, inaugurated today “Bharat Air Fibre Services” at Akola in Maharashtra. With inauguration of Bharat Air Fibre services, residents of Akola and Washim district will get Wireless Internet Connections on demand. 

The Bharat Air Fibre services are introduced by BSNL as part of digital India initiates by the Government of India and it aims of providing Wireless Connectivity in the range of 20 KMs from the BSNL Locations and thus customers at remote places also will be benefitted as BSNL comes with cheapest services with support of Telecom Infrastructure Partners (TIPs). 

BSNL is providing the “Bharat Air Fibre Services” through local business partners of BSNL from Akola & Washim District and these services will give fastest internet connectivity in quick time. These services are special and different from other operators as BSNL is providing unlimited free voice calling. 

When BSNL will be increasing its customer base with this high Technology services, at the same time BSNL is giving a great opportunity to residents of Akola and Washim District to join hands with BSNL as Telecom Infrastructure Partners. They will earn regular monthly income of about one lakh per month thereby becoming self-reliable under “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” initiatives of Govt of India.  

These Bharat Air Fibre services opens new way of fastest Wireless internet connectivity as well Voice services in reasonable cost. BSNL provides Bharat Air Fibre connectivity up to 100 Mbps speed.  BSNL is offering attractive Broadband plans in Wireline & Wireless segments and during lockdown BSNL has come up as most reliable brand for Internet connectivity there by successfully implementing the Work from Home started by Government as well as many private firms. 

BSNL is successfully providing Landline/ Broadband and Fibre FTTH connections. In Month July 20, BSNL has provided 15000 FTTH connections in Maharashtra Circle and 162000 FTTH connections throughout India. These are the spectacular achievements during strict lockdown and pandemic COVID-19.

With launch of Wireless Bharat Air Fibre, more connections will be provided on demand in very quick time. BSNL appeals to all residents of Akola and Washim District to avail these quality & most affordable services.

MSME Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari Approves a New Scheme to Make India Aatmanirbhar in Agarbatti Production

Union Minister for MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari has approved a unique employment generation program proposed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to make India Aatmanirbhar in Agarbatti production. The program named as “Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission” aims at creating employment for unemployed and migrant workers in different parts of the country while increasing domestic Agarbatti production substantially. The proposal was submitted to the Ministry of MSME for approval last month. The pilot project will be launched soon and on full-fledged implementation of the project, thousands of jobs will be created in the Agarbatti industry.

The scheme designed by KVIC on PPP mode is unique in the sense that in a very less investment, it will create sustainable employment and help private Agarbatti manufacturers to scale up Agarbatti production without any capital investment by them. Under the scheme, KVIC will provide Automatic Agarbatti making machines and powder mixing machines to the artisans through the successful private Agarbatti manufacturers who will sign the agreement as business partners. KVIC has decided to procure only locally made machines by Indian manufacturers which also aims at encouraging local production. 

KVIC will provide 25 per cent subsidy on the cost of the machines and will recover the remaining 75 per cent of the cost from the artisans in easy installments every month. The business partner will provide the raw material to the artisans for making Agarbatti and will pay them wages on job work basis. Cost of artisans’ training will be shared between KVIC and the private business partner wherein KVIC will bear 75 per cent of the cost while 25 per cent will be paid by the business partner.

Each automatic Agarbatti making machine makes approximately 80 kg Agarbatti per day which will provide direct employment to 4 persons. One powder mixing machine, to be given on a set on 5 Agarbatti making machines, will provide employment to 2 persons.

The current job work rate for Agarbatti making is Rs 15 (US$ 0.21) per kg. At this rate, 4 artisans working on one Automatic Agarbatti machine will earn minimum Rs 1200 (US$ 17.02) per day by making 80 kg of Agarbatti. Hence every artisan will earn at least Rs 300 per day. Similarly, on powder mixing machine, each artisan will get a fixed amount of Rs 250 (US$ 3.54) per day.

As per the scheme, the wages to the artisans will be provided by the business partners on weekly basis directly in their accounts through DBT only. Supply of raw material to the artisans, logistics, quality control and marketing of the final product will be the sole responsibility of the business partner. After recovery of the 75 per cent cost, the ownership of the machines will automatically be transferred to the artisans.

A two-party agreement to this effect will be signed between KVIC and the Private Agarbatti manufacturer for successful running of the project on PPP Mode.

The scheme has been designed in wake of the two major decisions – import restriction on Raw Agarbatti and increase in import duty on Bamboo sticks - taken by the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance respectively on the initiative of Shri Gadkari.

KVIC Chairman Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena said the two decisions of the Central Government created a huge employment opportunity in the Agarbatti industry. “In order to encash the huge employment generation opportunity, the KVIC designed a program namely “Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission” and submitted to the Ministry of MSME for approval,” Saxena said.

The program aims at handholding artisans and supporting the local Agarbatti industry. The current consumption of Agarbatti in the country is approximately 1490 MT per day; however, India’s per day production of Agarbatti is just 760 MT. There is a huge gap between the demand and the supply and hence, immense scope for job creation.

Riding on the heels of falling Case Fatality Rate, the Union Government decides to permit exports of ventilators

The Group of Ministers (GOM) on COVID-19 has considered and agreed to the proposal of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare allowing the export of made-in-India ventilators. This decision has been communicated to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for further needed action to facilitate the export of indigenously manufactured ventilators.

This significant decision comes on the heels of India continuing to maintain a progressively declining low rate of case fatality of COVID-19 patients, which currently stands at 2.15 per cent, which means that fewer numbers of active cases are on ventilators. As on 31st July 2020, only 0.22 per cent of the active cases were on ventilators across the country. Additionally, there has been substantial growth in the domestic manufacturing capacity of ventilators. Compared to January 2020, there are presently more than 20 domestic manufacturers for ventilators.

The export prohibition/restriction on ventilators was imposed in March 2020 to ensure domestic availability to effectively fight COVID-19. All types of ventilators were prohibited for export vide DGFT Notification No. 53 w.e.f 24.03.2020. Now with export of ventilators having been allowed, it is hoped that domestic ventilators would be in a position to find new markets for Indian ventilators in foreign countries.

UPI clocks its highest monthly volume with 1.5 billion transactions in July

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) at 1.49 billion transactions has recorded the highest volume in July for the second consecutive month. This is considered as a positive sign of Indians adopting mobile-based digital payments over cash during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In June 2020, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) managed channel had seen 1.34 billion transactions worth Rs 2.61 lakh crore (U$ 37.03 billion), whereas the value of transactions increased to Rs 2.90 lakh crore (US$ 41.14 billion) in July, as per the latest data released by NPCI.

This is a ‘V-shaped’ rebound that comes on the back of steep fall seen in the months of March and April during the nationwide lockdown when the popular instant payment service had lost nearly 25 per cent of transaction volumes from the pre-COVID-19 months.

According to the experts, this is a sign of a pandemic-induced payment behaviour change among consumers that have attributed in increasing the adoption of digital payments during the pandemic.

The campaigns were launched by NPCI, banks, the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian government urging users to adopt 'contactless' payment modes from cash.

The data showed that the transaction volumes recorded on most retail payment channels operated by NPCI have either surpassed or inching back to pre-covid-19 levels.

The NPCI data showed that the transactions recorded on National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC) which powers FasTag payments at highways also continued its recovery in July from June.

In June 2020, a total of 87 million transactions worth Rs 1,623 crore (US4 230.25 million) was processed which was almost eight times from April when just 10 million transactions worth Rs 247 crore (US$ 35.04 million) was processed.

The improvement in electronic toll volumes is substantial as it indicates a return of road traffic and intercity commute. For comparison, February had seen a record 110 million Fastag transactions worth Rs 1843 crore (US$ 261.46 million).

Likewise, there has been increase in transactions through BBPS channel as customers are now increasingly getting comfortable paying their bills online.

BBPS too recorded a highest ever 20.16 million transactions worth Rs 3,707 crore (US$ 525.89 million) processed on its platform in July, which is almost 25 per cent more transactions than 14.92 million transactions worth Rs 1,957 crore (US$ 277.63 million) processed on the platform in February before the pandemic.

Independently, IMPS used for instant bank to bank fund transfer between accounts also saw volumes surge to 222 million transactions worth Rs 2.25 lakh crore (US$ 31.92 million) in July, the data showed. IMPS count in June was at 199 million worth Rs 2.06 lakh crore (US$ 29.22 billion).

Advent to acquire RA Chem Pharma

PE firm Advent International signed a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling stake in RA Chem Pharma Ltd, a vertically integrated pharmaceutical company promoted by Micro Labs Ltd.

The deal is sad to be valued at Rs 1,000 crore (US$ 141.86 million), though no official statement was released disclosing the financial details of the transaction.

Hyderabad-based RA Chem was founded in 2003 with core focus in active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). However, over time, it has forward integrated into pellets, formulations, and clinical research to provide end-to-end offerings to its customers. Currently, its product portfolio ranges from pharmaceuticals to niche areas of animal health and cosmeceuticals. It has four manufacturing units, two research and development centres and a clinical research facility.

Advent has invested over US$ 1.7 billion globally in six companies in the healthcare sector in the last 12 months. It has invested over US$ 700 million in seven Indian businesses in the same period across sectors such as healthcare, consumer, and financial services.

“We continue to be excited about India’s pharmaceutical landscape and investing in RA Chem Pharma will further strengthen our presence in the sector. We aim to build one of the leading API platforms in India and will leverage our financial and operational resources globally to scale RA Chem Pharma both organically and inorganically," said Ms Shweta Jalan, managing director and head of India, Advent International.

Besides RA Chem, Advent’s other investments over the last 12 months include Bharat Serums and Vaccines, Aditya Birla Capital and DFM Foods.
 

Big Boost to Khadi; Indian Red Cross Society to Buy 1.80 lakh Face Masks from KVIC

As the popularity of the Khadi Face Masks grows across the country due to its fine quality and affordable price, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has received a prestigious purchase order from Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) to supply 1.80 lakh face masks.

As per KVIC, the IRCS masks will be made of 100 per cent double-twisted handcrafted cotton fabric in brown colour with red piping. KVIC has especially designed these double-layered cotton masks for the Indian Red Cross Society as per the samples provided by them. The mask will have suitably printed IRCS logo on the left side and the Khadi India tag on the right side. The supply of masks will begin by next month.

The execution of this order will require over 20,000 meter of fabric which will generate 9000 additional man days for the Khadi artisans.

KVIC Chairman, Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena welcomed the purchase order from the Indian Red Cross Society and said the massive demand of Khadi Face Masks is a major step in the direction of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. “This order will help our Khadi artisans to produce more yarn and fabric and will further add to their income in these difficult times,” Saxena said.

KVIC has added that so far it has sold over 10 lakh face masks which include double layered Cotton Masks and triple-layered Silk Masks. The biggest order for face masks that the KVIC received was from the Jammu & Kashmir government for 7 lakh masks that has been delivered on time.

Approximately 1 lakh meter of Cotton fabric worth over Rs one crore (US$ 0.14 million) and nearly 2000 meters of Silk fabric of different colours and prints has been used in making these masks till recently.

KVIC received repeat orders from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister’s Office, Central Government ministries and orders from public through KVIC’s E-portal. KVIC has supplied over 20,000 face masks to the Indian Railways too. Apart from the sale, KVIC has free distributed nearly 10 lakh Khadi masks to the District Authorities though its Khadi Institutions across the country.

“Face Masks are the most critical tool to fight the Corona Pandemic. These masks prepared from Double Twisted Khadi fabric not only meet the quality and scale of demand but are cost effective, breathable, washable, reusable and bio-degradable” Saxena added.
 

Atal Innovation Mission launches 'AIM-iCREST', in partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation

In a major initiative to encourage and enable holistic progress in the incubator ecosystem across the country, NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), has launched AIM iCREST – an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program for a Robust Ecosystem focused on creating high performing Start-ups. This is a first of its kind initiative for advancing innovation at scale in India. 

AIM has joined hands with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation - organizations that can lend credible support and expertise in the entrepreneurship and innovation space. These partnerships will provide global expertise and showcase proven best practices to the AIM's incubator network. 

AIM iCREST, as the name suggests, has been designed to enable the incubation ecosystem and act as a growth hack for AIM’s Atal and Established incubators across the country.  Under the initiative, the AIM’s incubators are set to be upscaled and provided requisite support to foster the incubation enterprise economy, that will help them to significantly enhance their performance. This will be complemented by providing training to entrepreneurs, through technology driven processes and platforms. 

The program aims at going beyond incubator capacity building.  Given the current pandemic crisis, the effort will focus on supporting start-up entrepreneurs in knowledge creation and dissemination as well as in developing robust and active networks. 

Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, sharing his views said, “We firmly believe that the Indian startup ecosystem has evolved into truly world-class movement. NITI Aayog shall play the role of a catalyst in making it happen. India has a great opportunity in its inherent innovative mindset to capture global markets while creating disruptive solutions for the challenges within the country. In order to facilitate an AtmaNirbhar ecosystem that is capable of nurturing such disruptive start-ups, AIM, NITI Aayog is enabling this partnership with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation. We are positive it will propel our portfolio to become #WorldClassIncubators and reach greater heights.” 

Sharing his views, Mr Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director, AIM said, “India needs world class incubators fostering world class startups leveraging the tremendous innovation talent of our country. For the first time in the Government, the Incubator capacity development program is being extended to the entire portfolio of supported Atal incubators. This programme is unique also in its design - it is a combination of interactive practices in the field of incubation; enabling the incubators to support sustainable and successful startups. We are pleased to announce the partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation supported by NEN.” 

Ms Anjani Bansal, Deputy Director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said, “We are thrilled to support this initiative of Atal Innovation Mission and NITI Aayog to nurture an ecosystem that enables development and scale up of innovations to solve problems with far reaching impact. Such innovations in technologies and business models can contribute, both incrementally and radically, to the foundation's goals of improving maternal and child health, increasing productivity and income of small farmers, increasing access and usage of digital financial services, and improving livelihoods for women. The large network of incubators under AIM-iCREST program also enables us to deliver this program at scale which is particularly exciting.” 

Mr Ajay Kela, President, and CEO, Wadhwani Foundation, added, “The Wadhwani Foundation is honored to partner with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help accelerate and scale Startup success in India. The partnership brings decades of experience and global best practice integrated into a comprehensive platform delivered through AIM iCREST. The program will contribute to much needed economic and job growth in these challenging times”. 

Mr Dan Kranzler Senior Advisor to Wadhwani Foundation and lead trainer of iCREST program added, “Teams from AIM iCREST, Wadhwani Foundation, and the leading incubators of India are all excited to engage together to advance outcomes to create increased economic and job growth. The unique nature of the content, programs, toolkits, resources, and best practices from over 200 global incubators work seamlessly in a digital model to ensure continuity of the program in the midst of the COVID-19 restrictions”. 
 

Minister for Commerce & Industry inaugurated CII National Digital conference on Ease of Doing Business for Atmanirbhar Bharat

Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal today said that the Government is committed to policy simplification and asked for industry's feedback and cooperation. Inaugurating CII National Digital conference on Ease of Doing Business for Atmanirbhar Bharat today, the Minister emphasized that a single window system for industrial approvals will soon be in place. He urged both industry and government to work as partners and urged the industry to play a proactive role in helping the government identify the tax evaders and violators.

Speaking on the COVID-19 situation, the Minister said that economy is bouncing back in the country and restrictions were temporary and are now being eased. He highlighted that during COVID-19 crisis, the country's services sector continued to serve global clients. He said that India’s exports are almost 88 per cent of the last year’s level while imports are almost 75 per cent of the same period last year. “Business is bouncing back,” he said and added that the export restrictions on ventilators will soon be done away with. He said that Centre is working with States for easier labour law, soft launch of land bank portal, single window clearance for investments.

On the incentive scheme for exports- Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS), Shri Goyal said that the Government is looking for an early solution and the government will find a way that does not impact exports. “We are in dialogue with the requisite authorities. MEIS is not going anywhere. It is a cash flow issue. We are trying for an early solution which is a win-win for everyone” he added.

The minister also said the finance ministry is looking at ways to promote finance for investments in the country and the government has been assured by the banks that there is ample liquidity in the system. The Minister said that his Ministry has already identified 20 industrial sectors for giving focused push. The Minister said that the government is working on decriminalising laws and removing redundant laws.

On the need for flexible labour laws to help the industry, Shri Goyal said that the Centre is in touch with 16 States and UTs and had received proposals from them. “We are trying to commonalise their ideas. We are looking at how States can offer easy to implement the labour law ecosystem...,” he said.

The Minister said that the worries on availability of land for industry in India are unfounded, as thousands of hectares of land has already been identified. He said that the Centre is planning a soft launch of the land bank available with States and will create a land bank porta. Six States have already shared the data for this.

On the proposed single window system for investments, the Minister said that the government’s effort is to try and bring all good practices on one platform and the single window will be a genuine one. He said his team is in constant touch with State departments to ensure that the single window gets expedited.
 

India can be among top-5 agri goods exporters with effective policies: Report

According to a report by the World Trade Centre, India can be among the top five exporters of agro-commodities by shifting its focus on cultivation and effectively handholding farmers.

The Government has also introduced some reforms in the farm sector by permitting farmers to sell produce outside the regulated APMC markets, and relaxing the Essential Commodities Act, among others, which can help boost exports.

The country ranked eighth with an annual agro exports of US$ 39 billion in 2019, after the EU (US$ 181 billion), the US (US$ 172 billion), Brazil (US$ 93 billion), China (US$ 83 billion), Canada (US$ 69 billion), Indonesia (US$ 46 billion) and Thailand (US$ 44 billion), quoted the WTC report.

The report added, "Through focused intervention in capacity-building, we can enhance our agro exports to surpass Thailand and Indonesia and become the fifth-largest exporter in the world".

In order to achieve this, the first step is to re-orient the role of the government extension centres — the 715 krishi vigyan kendras across the country and to handhold farmers in growing those varieties of crops that have demand in the global markets, added report.

The study noted that Indian consignments get rejected many a time because of the presence of pesticides above the prescribed maximum residual limits, Thus, farmers should be guided through Krishi Vigyan Kendras on prudential use of pesticides and other chemicals so that they conform to the global quality standards.

"Having attained self-sufficiency in agriculture, we need to re-orient our extension services system, which was developed in the days of the green revolution that focused on attaining self-sufficiency in farm production," the report said.

It further added that it is time we move towards growing quality food for the global markets rather than quantity.

One of the major areas could be cultivating horticulture crops that abide to the quality, colour, shape, and chemical contents acceptable in foreign countries or which are fit for further processing.

India is the second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables, but the share in global exports is under 1.8 per cent. It is the largest producer of papayas, lemons, and limes; however, we meet hardly 3.2 per cent of the world papaya demand, 0.5 per cent for lemons and limes, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization.

It was seen that India made remarkable progress in exports of niche items like capsicum chilly, castor oil, tobacco extracts, and sweet biscuits, apart from basmati rice, meat, and marine products in the past decade.

"These success stories should be and can be replicated in other potential food items," the report concluded.