India is now the second largest mobile phone producer in the world after China, as per information shared by Indian Cellular Association with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. "We are happy to inform you that with the strenuous and calibrated efforts of government of India, ICA and FTTF, India has now emerged as the second largest producer of mobile handset by volume," ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo said in a letter to both the union ministers on March 28.

ICA referred to data available from market research firm IHS, China's National Bureau of Statistics and Vietnam General Statistics Office. According to the data shared by ICA, annual production of mobile phones in India increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in 2017.

India replaced Vietnam to become the second largest producer of mobile phones in 2017. With the rise in mobile phone production, imports of the devices in the country also reduced to less than half in 2017-18. "We are also happy to inform you that our completely build units as percentage of domestic market has now come down from 78 per cent (2014-15) to 18 per cent (2017-18)," Mohindroo said.

The fast track task force (FTTF), a body under Ministry of Electronics and IT, has set target to achieve around 500 million mobile phone production in India by 2019, with value estimated to be around USD 46 billion. The FTTF, which has members from industry and government, has set target to create USD 8 billion component manufacturing as result of growth in mobile phone production and create 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs by 2019.

The body has set the target to export 120 million mobile phone units with an estimated value of USD 1.5 million by the end of next year. "As long as we bring the right focus on exports, we will be able to achieve these numbers," Mohindroo said

Source: PTI