THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY(SHRI MILIND DEORA)
(a) to (c) The mobile handsets manufactured, exported, imported and as well
as the demand within the country during the last three years and the current
year are as follows:
Calendar Year No. of Mobile No. of No. of Total Demand Handsets Mobile mobile in the country manufactured handsets Phones (in Lakhs)# in the country exported# imported# (in Lakhs)# (in Lakhs) (in Lakhs)
2008 1200 550 550 1200
2009 1350 680 700 1370
2010 1400 800 1100 1700
Financial year 1700 900 1150 1950
2011-12
(estimate)
# Source: ICA [Indian Cellular Association)
(d) The following steps have been taken by the Government to promote manufacturing of
mobile handsets and mobile equipments:-
i) The Government has created investor friendly environment for the manufacture of
indigenous telecom equipment including mobile phones. 100% foreign direct investment
(FDI) is allowed under automatic route.
ii) No Industrial license is required for the manufacture of mobile handsets and mobile
equipment. The entrepreneur has to only file Industrial Entrepreneur Memorandum (IEM)
with Secretariat for Industrial Assistance (SIA).
iii) Payment of any technical know-how fee and royalty for technology transfer is under
automatic route.
iv) Mobile handsets; parts, components and accessories for the manufacture of mobile
handsets; sub-parts for the manufacture of such parts and components; and parts or
components for the manufacture of battery chargers, PC connectivity cables and hands-free
headphones of such mobile handsets and sub-parts for the manufacture of such parts and
components are exempted from basic customs duty and excise duty. They have also been
exempted from Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD) upto 31.3.2012.
v) Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been promoted to enable hassle free manufacturing
and trading for export purposes wherein all import and export is duty free.
vi) Weighted deduction of 200% of expenditure incurred on in-house R&D in case of a company
engaged in the business of electronic equipment, computers and telecommunication equipment
is available under clause (1) of sub-section (2AB) of Section 35 of the Income Tax Act.
vii) Provisions in this regard in the Draft National Telecom Policy 2011, which was
released on 10 October 2011 for public consultation, interalia include:
# Promote indigenous R&D, innovation and manufacturing that serve domestic and
foreign markets by addressing market distortions, enhancing market accessibility, making
available factors of production, increasing skills and competency in telecom and providing
incentives wherever necessary.
# Provide preferential market access for domestically manufactured
telecommunication products including mobile devices, SIM cards with enhanced features etc.
with special emphasis on Indian products for which IPRs reside in India to address strategic
and security concerns of the Government, consistent with international commitments.
# To strengthen the links in the complete value chain from basic research to IPR
generation, product design and development, product commercialization, and simultaneously
achieving economies of scale, thereby enabling the product to compete internationally.
# To support Electronic Design and Manufacturing Clusters for design,
development and manufacture of telecommunication equipment.
(e) MTNL mobile service is available on demand and all mobile (GSM) subscribers are being
provided 3G enabled services.
To meet the market demand, BSNL is already providing the following services to its 3G subscribers:-
i) Contents of BSNL Live Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Portal, Video on
Demand, Movies, Full Track song download, Games, Comics etc.
ii) BSNL APPS (Applications) Store-various applications access Different categories
such as Entertainment, Games, Social Networking, Cricket, Utilities etc.
iii) IVVR (Interactive Video & Voice Responses)-TV Channel VOD (Video on
Demand), Kids stuff, Comics etc., Video SMS/ Chat.
iv) Mobile TV-Streaming of Mobile Channel on Handsets, TV Clips download,
v) BSNL intends to target more and more subscribers to use the services and
experience the power of 3G. In addition, BSNL is also planning to launch Hello
TV for PC and Data Card users, Mobile Advertisement Services,
vi) Wi-Max- BSNL has been deploying Wi-Max equipment in rural area of the
country (in all telecom Circles except Andaman &Nicobar circle) using BWA
spectrum to provide wireless broadband services.
