Centre to set up 18 electronics manufacturing clusters: Prasad

Gurugram, January 11

The Central government plans to set up 18 electronics manufacturing clusters in 400 towns and cities, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today.

He said that India’s electronics manufacturing market would be of USD 400 billion by 2020 and the government was focusing on domestic production of technology products.

Prasad was speaking at a session on ‘IT-ITeS and ESDM: The next era of State’s Growth and Innovation’ at Pravasi Haryana Diwas-2017, here.

He lauded the initiative taken by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his government to promote IT services in the state. He said that when he assumed the office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the total export of India was worth Rs 11,000 crore which had increased up to Rs 1,26,000 crore till December 2016.

“Indians have passion for technology, therefore, the digital eco system in the country would change in future,” he said.

He said that digital payments were going to create a new infrastructure in India. “Therefore, digital payment infrastructure and service would become a rising industry,” he said.

He said that a minimum of 10 million Point of Sale (PoS) machines and industrial machines were needed apart from mobile wallets.

He said that Haryana had a lot of potential and possibilities for innovations in the fields of digital payment, internet, artificial intelligence, digital education and cyber security. He said that the number of mobile phones in India was equal to the population of France and Italy.

About 42 mobile phone manufacturing companies and 30 component factories had been established in the country, he said. He said that India had nearly 105 crore mobile phones, 10 crore Aadhaar cards, 500 billion internet connections and 350 billion smart phones. — PTI

Set up scrap-based steel units: Birender

Gurugram: Union Steel Minister Birender Singh on Wednesday stressed the need for setting up of scrap-based steel production units. He said the Centre was contemplating to bring a policy in this regard. Addressing the second and final day of the Pravasi Haryana Divas here, Singh urged the Pravasi Haryanavis to come up with such projects since making steel from scrap is not only cost-effective but also environment-friendly. Singh said India at present is the third largest producer of steel after Japan but, as per recent data, the country would surpass Japan in steel production in the coming few months. While exhorting the Pravasi Haryanavis to connect with their roots, Singh said: “Haryana has a lot of potential in youth and by supporting and contributing a bit, they could produce best of shooters, wrestlers and athletes. You should help in the speedy development of the state,” he told the Pravasi Haryanavis.