Government is putting together a new component-linked incentive plan that would try to encourage the manufacture of electronics parts in addition to semiconductors.
S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), stated at a product launch here, “Even as the private sector is stepping up, we hope in MeitY to have a component-linked incentive scheme in the coming months which will assist this movement of making India a Product Nation and increasingly a nation that produces more of its components.”
Future applicants will require a scheme, and at this time the government does not have any. Thus, he continued, “we have to come up with a new plan.” He responded, “Partially replaced,” when asked if the current component incentive program will be replaced.
Addition of local value
During the unveiling of the Milkyway PC tablets, which are designed and built in India, Krishnan stated that the government has been in discussions with the industry regarding items that are made in India. The other area of focus is on enhancing local value addition.
The AI-enabled, locally produced Education Tablet was created by VVDN Technologies in association with MediaTek India and CoRover.ai. It is equipped with special features such as repairability and upgradability to tackle the urgent issues of the digital divide and the build-up of electronic waste in India. Epic Foundation, VVDN Technologies, and UTL signed a memorandum of understanding allowing UTL to produce PC tablets under license from EPIC and VVDN. The goal is to produce between two and three lakh tablets annually to be supplied to state governments.
Virtual Assistant
“To bridge the digital divide, we have included BharatGPT, a start-up. Students will find it easier to use BharatGPT in the classroom because it is connected with MeitY’s Bhashini software. For instance, students can download the NCERT textbooks and build their own virtual assistants, according to Epic Foundation founder and chairman Ajai Chowdhry, who spoke with Businessline.
Milkyway, an Android smartphone, will price for Rs. 9,999 and is available in various models with 3GB and 4GB RAM, 32GB and 64GB storage, and 3 megapixel (MP) front and 8 megapixel back cameras. He said that Iris Waves will market Milkyway and handle after-sale support.
“Iris will handle the repairs because they have distribution and repair facilities across the nation, and all of the engineers have received training to fix at the component level, which is achievable with this product and not any foreign goods.Essentially, what we will be able to accomplish is, to put repairers to work across the nation,” Chowdhry continued.
