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India has developed sufficient domestic manufacturing capacity for mobile phone screen protectors and must ensure that substandard imports do not undermine local manufacturers, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S Krishnan said on Thursday.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 'India 3.0: The Next Tech Leap' event in New Delhi, Krishnan said India now has adequate production capacity in the segment and needs to protect the market from low-quality imports. "We now have enough production capacity in the country for this category of equipment. And so it's important that we make sure that substandard imports don't come in and there's no dumping of substandard goods which will affect the market for quality product which India is now making," he said. The remarks come days after the government brought smartphone screen protectors under the compulsory registration framework for electronics and information technology goods. The government on September 21 notified the inclusion of smartphone screen protectors under the framework, with compliance with the prescribed Indian Standard set to become mandatory from April 1, 2027. Manufacturers and other entities have been given a transition period until March 31, 2027. The move is aimed at ensuring that products entering the Indian market meet prescribed quality standards, while providing domestic manufacturers time to comply with the new requirements. Krishnan also said the broader electronics and semiconductor ecosystem was witnessing a shift in industry sentiment, with companies moving beyond initial interest and beginning to discuss concrete investments and commitments in India. "Last year everyone had a sense of FOMO that they had to be here. This year they are actually making commitments of what their investments could be and how they plan to go forward and what kind of applications they need to make," he said. He said there had also been several industry-to-industry interactions, with the government receiving feedback on the discussions and progress being made by companies. Speaking at the event, Krishnan said the global electronics and semiconductor industry was increasingly looking to diversify supply chains instead of concentrating manufacturing in a single location. He said this trend offered an opportunity for India to strengthen its position in global supply chains, while cautioning that the country did not need to manufacture every component domestically. "You don't try to do everything in house. You are from 100% of the value chain. And it's really not possible with many of the global value chains today. So you do a significant enough part of it to make sure that you're indispensable to it," he said. On semiconductors, Krishnan described the sector as a "strategic and foundational industry" and said India should initially focus on legacy semiconductor nodes, where the country's existing manufacturing capabilities and fiscal capacity make entry more feasible. "We believe, based on what our fiscal capacity is and on where our level of sophistication of advanced manufacturing stands today, it is easier for us to first enter in the legacy nodes and create a presence," he said. He added that the focus of ISM 2.0 on research and development could help India gradually develop capabilities in leading-edge semiconductor nodes and niche technologies. (ANI)
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