Government Has No Plans to Ban Sale of Smartphones Under Rs. 12,000 Segment: MoS IT

Government has no plans to ban low-budget smartphones under Rs. 12,000, stated Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday. The response came in his reply to a question on government’s reported plan to ban Chinese companies from selling sub-Rs. 12,000 mobile phones in the country. While neglecting the claims against banning foreign, especially Chinese, brands, Chandrashekhar also stated that India looks forward to build domestic brands. The country’s electronic ecosystem is expected to include more national tech companies in the coming years.

Chandrashekhar, as reported by PTI, has also stated that the government has requested the Chinese mobile brands to increase their exports from India. “Only issue that we have raised and done very transparently with some of the Chinese brands is that we have said that our expectation is that they will do more exports,” he said.

However, the minister rejected any plans to ban a particular segment from the market. He said, “We don’t have any proposal and I am not sure where it came from.”

The minister also released a [report](http://icrier.org/pdf/Globalise_to_Localise.pdf) on increasing domestic value addition. The government, as stated in the report, is looking forward to reach $300 billion (nearly Rs. 23,90,500 crore)-electronics production in next three to four years. Meanwhile, the present production is estimated to be around $76 billion (nearly Rs. 6,05,600 crore).

The report also included suggestions to increase exports, promote bilateral, and regional free trade agreements. The government is also taking measures to lower regulatory burden and cost of transportation for exports.