Import items must be given importance
Annualised imports of electronics goods grew at a 24.56 per cent in January, 2017.
New Delhi: For success of its flagship programme Make in India, the Centre should first target high import intensive items like electronic goods, machinery, steel and transport equipment, said Assocham.
It said that import in these sectors add close to $9 billion or over 27 per cent of the country’s monthly import bill.
“There are other major import items like crude oil, gold and precious stones which cannot be produced indigenously or are used for re-exports. But a growing economy like India which is witnessing a huge expansion in usage of telecom and other items using electronics, should go about in a focused manner to drastically cut imports of the items which can be substituted by domestic production and add to the country’s manufacturing strength. This is eminently doable, provided the policy initiatives are put in place and implemented with great clarity and speed both by the Centre and the states,” it said.
It said that the latest figures show import of close to $4 billion for electronics, $2.36 billion for electrical and non-electrical machinery, $1.47 billion for transport equipment and about $1 billion for iron and steel.
Thanks to demand for user industries particularly telecom, automobile, smart consumer devices, the annualised imports of electronics goods grew at a 24.56 per cent in January, 2017, said Assocham.