Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jairam Ramesh Clash Over India’s Phone Manufacturing Growth

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia criticized Congress MP Jairam Ramesh for his comments on the Production-linked Incentives (PLI) scheme in the telecom sector. Scindia highlighted India’s significant growth in mobile phone production and reduction in imports since 2014-15.

Scindia stated, “In 2014-15, only 5.8 crore mobile phone units were produced in the country, and over 21 crore units were imported. Today, the situation has completely reversed! In 2023-24, 33 crore units were produced in India, and only 0.3 crore units were imported. The value of mobile phone exports has gone up from Rs 1556 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 1,28,982 crore in 2023-24.”

He also pointed out that the value of mobile phone imports was Rs 48,609 crore in 2014-15, which has now reduced to Rs 7,665 crore. The trade deficit in telecom has decreased from Rs 68,000 crore to just Rs 4000 crore over the last five years.

Jairam Ramesh, however, argued that India’s telecom exports have been declining and accused the government of exaggerating the PLI scheme’s success. He stated, “According to the Government’s own data, India imported telecom products exceeding Rs 1,46,000 crore in the last fiscal year – seven times higher than the Rs 20,000 crore in exports.”

Ramesh also criticized the PLI scheme, calling it a mixed success and accusing the government of using it for propaganda.