The Maharashtra state government’s approval to the electronic policy for boosting the manufacture of electronic equipments as well as components have been greatly welcomed by the local industries. The step is in an endeavour to bring down import of electronic equipments.
As per industry bodies, the policy will not just aid the growth of Electronics System Design and Manufacturing industry (ESDM), but will also assist the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) throughout the state. It will enable them to get subsidies and other incentives at the time of setup of electronic manufacturing units. The policy will also assist in building new entrepreneurs in the electronics segment.
The policy also states that Maharashtra’s ESDM industry is bound to get a turnover of $12 billion by 2020 with an investment of $3 billion. This will generate extra employment for one lakh people. Also, the export of ESDM sector is also expected to increase to $2 billion by 2020.
The new policy highlights provisions for MSMEs which include 25 per cent of one-time subsidy on capital equipment for technology upgradation restricted to Rs 25 lakh. It has 25 per cent of one time subsidy on capital equipment for cleaner production measures restricted to a limitation of Rs 5 lakh and 75 per cent subsidy on expenses incurred on patent registration limited to Rs 10 lakh for national patents and Rs 25 lakh for international patents. According to the policy, electronic products that are being utilised for data communication including cell phones, mobile tablets and their parts, components as well as accessories, IT products including motherboards, routers, modem, tablets, laptops, surveillance cameras, networking switches and other networking products are going to be declared as ‘goods of special importance’ and are going to be taxed at the minimum VAT rate.
Presently, India is importing 65 per cent of electronic equipment, computer hardware and other electronic devices. Although the economy is performing well in IT services, it is lagging behind in the manufacturing of electronic equipments ranging from IT hardware to other electronic devices.The Government has set up a target of bringing down the import of electronic equipments to 50 per cent by 2016-2017 from 65 per cent.
