The next spectrum auction will be significantly smaller than the last one: Ashiwini Vaishnaw

Minister Vaishnaw also addressed the government's recent decision to cut the import duty on certain parts used in manufacturing mobile phones from 15% to 10%. He attributed this move to the trust India has garnered on the global stage due to Prime Minister Modi's foreign and economic policies over the past decade.

Highlighting the shift towards "trust shoring," he explained that many companies expressed interest in establishing mega electronics manufacturing clusters in India.

The government has also set aside ₹15,500 crore for various programmes in the coming fiscal year in the interim budget announced on Thursday. This includes a focus on semiconductors and the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile and IT hardware. Out of this, ₹4,203 crore has been earmarked for incentives for assembly, test, and packaging plants.

The reduction in customs duty, according to Vaishnaw, simplified the structure and aligned with the government's focus on export-led growth within a trusted geography.

"So, this simplification has happened in the custom duty structure because if there are multiple rates, then it's very easy for misinterpretation to happen around which component should be classified as what. So that problem is now out," he explained.

With global mobile companies manufacturing in India, mobile phone exports from the country doubled year-on-year to $11.1 billion in the fiscal year to March 2023 and are expected to rise to $15 billion in the current fiscal year, according to industry estimates.