Pitroda pitches for 'made-in-India' mobiles
Thursday, 18 January 2007, 18:30 IST
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Bangalore: Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda, who revolutionized the Indian telecom sector in the eighties, pitched for "made-in-India" mobile handsets to capitalize on the rapid growth in the communications space. "Indian telecom manufacturers should grab a major share of the fastest growing mobile handsets market in the world, as no other country is witnessing such a scorching pace of growth as India," Pitroda told reporters on the sidelines of the CII partnership summit here. With every other market reaching a saturation point, he said telecom manufacturing in the sub-continent would be a win-win situation for all stakeholders, as the demand for mobile handsets, including replacement for old handsets was set to cross the 500-million mark in the next five years. "Clearly, manufacturing of mobile handsets, network equipment and the infrastructure for operating them should be taken up earnestly. Since the demand is huge and growing, the benefits are greater," Pitroda pointed out. According to the global handset industry update of Merrill Lynch, the world market growth will be driven by India and China, with a combined handset volume growth of 21 percent CAGR from 2005 to 2010. Mobile penetration in India is set to touch 35 percent by 2010 as against just seven percent in 2005. It is projected to reach 411-million mark by 2010 as against 76 million in 2005, achieving a five-year CAGR of 40 percent. "India should also focus on the biotechnology sector, as the next wave of revolution from biotechnology will have far-reaching implications in agriculture and healthcare," Pitroda asserted. Stressing on the need to improve the quality of primary and higher education, he said though the potential for generating human resource was immense, the need of the hour was knowledge revolution. "There are over 550 million people below the age group of 25 years. They have to be trained to meet the global workforce demand," Pitroda noted. In this context, he exhorted every state to launch its own knowledge initiative, as most of the subjects examined by the Knowledge Commission such as primary education and health were in the state list. Earlier, in his keynote address at the plenary session on "The innovation imperative: new models, new ideas", Pitroda told the delegates that disruptive technologies and multi-disciplinary approach were required to promote technological and social innovations. "Social innovations are equally critical to improve the quality of life of about 400 million Indians living below the poverty line. Disruptive technologies such as transistor, fibre optics, microprocessors and software have created more opportunities and enhanced productivity. "In the next 25 years, Internet and biotechnology will create equally new opportunities, which should be exploited by improving the delivery mechanism. Global leaders are still living in the era of command and control without understanding the new paradigm of coordination and communication that create openness, transparency and innovative mindset," Pitroda said.
Source: IANS
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