"New Scheme Aims to Build an Indian-Owned Global Smartphone Brand"
Indian brand (scheme definition)
a company incorporated in India with over 51% Indian ownership, management control, and India-held IP.
PLI scheme
Production Linked Incentive, an earlier scheme rewarding manufacturing scale rather than brand ownership.
India's effort to build a strong manufacturing base goes back over a decade. Early tools included National Investment and Manufacturing Zones, single-window clearance for industrial approvals, and the Technology Acquisition and Development Fund, all meant to attract factories and ease compliance. These measures helped India become a major production base, and the country is now the world's second-largest mobile phone manufacturer after China. However, most of this manufacturing capacity has been used to assemble phones designed and branded by foreign companies.
This gap became sharper after schemes like the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phones scaled up assembly volumes without necessarily building Indian ownership of design, intellectual property, or global brand value. Companies such as Tata Electronics and Dixon Technologies have grown strong in contract manufacturing, but the phones they assemble are still owned and branded by companies headquartered abroad. The new mobile phone manufacturing scheme is designed to close this specific gap: it does not just reward manufacturing scale, it rewards Indian ownership of the brand, its design, and its intellectual property.
To qualify as an Indian brand under the scheme, a company must be incorporated in India, hold its trademark and intellectual property in India, have Indian citizens exercising management control and holding more than 51% ownership, and maintain in-house design and R&D capability within the country. This ownership-and-control test distinguishes it from earlier manufacturing incentives, which focused mainly on where a phone was assembled rather than who owned its brand and technology.
The incentive structure follows this logic. …
What is/are the recent policy initiative(s) of Government of India to promote the growth of manufacturing sector?
1.Setting up of National Investment and Manufacturing Zones
2.Providing the benefit of 'single window clearance'
3.Establishing the Technology Acquisition and Development Fund
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
Consider the following statements regarding the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme's definition of an 'Indian brand':
1.The company must be incorporated in India.
2.Its trademark and intellectual property must be held in India.
3.Indian citizens must hold more than 51% ownership and exercise management control.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Match the following incentive components of the Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme with their approximate value:
A.Incentive on incremental sales — 1. Up to 1.5%
B.Incentive for in-country design/R&D — 2. 5%
C.Incentive for domestic sourcing — 3. 3%
Select the correct match:
Which of the following were earlier government initiatives to promote the growth of India's manufacturing sector?
1.National Investment and Manufacturing Zones
2.Single-window clearance
3.Technology Acquisition and Development Fund
Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
Which of the following statements about India's smartphone brand market share is/are correct?
1.Indian brands accounted for close to half of domestic smartphone sales around 2015.
2.Indian brands' market share had fallen to under 1% by 2025.
Select the correct answer:
India currently ranks as the world's:
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