India aims to lead in mobile manufacturing, says IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

New Delhi: – 59 Chinese apps were banned in India, and after that, Indians built more than 200 new apps. Union Information & Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, while appreciating this Indian talent, announced that a target has been set to make India number one in mobile manufacturing. Prasad said that India has jumped to number two from number six, in this sector, in the last six years.

Union Minister Prasad was speaking at a webinar held on the subject of Data Privacy and Data Security. Following the Chinese betrayal in the Galwan Valley, India banned 59 Chinese apps citing national security reasons. Accusations were rife that the Indian data captured by these apps was not secure. Referring to that, Union Minister Prasad expressed confidence by saying that data is a national property. The Indian data belongs to the society and the country. Therefore, according to him, there cannot be any compromise in this matter. Prasad added that the data in the health, agriculture and education sectors should be secured.

He informed that the union government will be bringing a legislature for data security. The legislature had been passed in the month of December, last year. Union Information & Technology Minister said that now the legislature is being studied by a parliamentary committee. The government banned 59 Chinese apps, prioritising national security and the citizen’s data. Thereafter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the countrymen to develop new apps. Prasad announced that in a spontaneous response, 200 new apps have been delivered by the Indian techies.

In 2014, there were only two Electronic Manufacturing Sectors. Prasad said that today there are 260 of them. The country has jumped to number 2 from 5 in the last five years. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the target has been set to surpass China, who is sitting pretty on number one. The Information & Technology Minister clarified that all the efforts are focused in that direction.

Currently, China is the undoubted leader in mobile manufacturing. Although India is at number two, most of the mobile companies in the world have manufacturing units in China. Many multinational companies are preparing to leave China, following the Coronavirus crisis. Some of these companies have made preparations to invest in India. Following the announcements made by the companies like Google and Facebook to make huge investments in India, it is being claimed that China has started feeling the heat. Against this background, the target announced by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad of surpassing China is the mobile manufacturing sector becomes significant.