In what could be termed as a big achievement for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative, the government on Monday revealed that it has received investment proposals worth Rs 90,000 crore in the past two months in the booming electronics sector.
"About Rs 90,000 crore worth of proposals were received in the last two months. There is hardly any company, which has not shown interest to manufacture in India," Ajay Kumar, additional secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, told PTI.
Foreign handset and electronics makers are increasingly showing interest to start manufacturing operations in the country, with some of them planning to shift their manufacturing activities from China.
Earlier this month, Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn Technology had said that it would invest $5 billion (roughly Rs 32,000 crore) in Maharashtra in the next five years after the state government agreed to allot it 1,500 acre land to set up a plant.
"India is already the fastest-growing smartphone market and is now becoming the fastest-growing manufacturing destination of phones," Kumar said.
After Foxconn, Quanta Computer and Xiaomi have also disclosed plans to manufacture electronic goods in the country.
In June, Chinese tech company Lenovo had said it was examining the prospect of starting another facility in India to manufacture smartphones and tablets. The company manufactures computers at its Puducherry unit.
Under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS), the government has received proposals to the tune of nearly Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the past one year from different companies for manufacturing electronic goods in the country. Of the total proposals in the last 12 months, more than 80 per cent have "materialised" in the two past months itself.
"There is a significant interest in mobile phones. A lot of Indian companies, which were till now importing, as well as foreign firms, are increasing their presence and starting manufacturing here," Kumar said.
Airbus, Phillips, Thomson, Samsung, LG and Flextronics are among the global companies that have evinced interest to set up manufacturing facilities in the country, the official added.
Japanese tech giant Sony Corp also plans to resume manufacturing televisions in India after over a decade. For this, the company has reached an agreement with Taiwan-based contract manufacturer Foxconn to manufacture its Bravia line of televisions at the latter's facility near Chennai.
