Time for ‘Make in India' to go stronger

The lockdown is a challenge, but it is also an opportunity to strengthen mobile phone manufacturing and making the country a global supply chain hub for electronics

- BHUPESH RASEEN

Coronavirus (COVID-19) spread is the biggest threat to the world and the global economy in nearly a century. The virus that originated in China has infected people globally, with several countries and major cities going under lockdown, imposing quarantine measures on the entire population. This has confined citizens to their homes except for essentials and effectively brought normal life to a halt in India as well.

While organizations have rolled out mandatory work-from-home policies to prevent the spread of COVID-19, malls, shopping centres, movie theatres and all public places are temporarily shut in an effort to prevent community transmission of the disease. These limitations are leading to a slowdown in business across all major industries (with the exception of healthcare services) and small business owners are struggling to deal with the situation.

Like most of the sectors, including manufacturing, the mobile phone industry has also been severely impacted by the pandemic and the lockdown that has followed it. With the consumption of such products and services going down, revenues of the companies will soon start to dry up, placing the jobs of millions of workers at a huge risk.

The mobile phone industry in India is also facing the heat and has a rough ride ahead due to the COVID-19 outbreak. India’s share in global smartphone production is set to fall to the levels seen four years back, as factories have halted manufacturing activities due to the lockdown and demand is likely to stay weak till at least July 2020.