India should move up the value chain in the manufacture of electronics components from the present levels of 15 per cent, a top official of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on Tuesday.

S Krishnan, Secretary Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that even at 15 per cent value addition, the employment potential is immense and the government is prepared to support this endeavour by the entrepreneurs.

Speaking at the Merchants Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, Krishnan said "Electronics manufacturing in the country is an important part of the new policy of the government. Now the present level of value addition by Indian companies is 15 per cent. Work should be directed towards increasing this percentage and the government is prepared to support this".

More electronics components manufacturing units should come up in the country. "The component eco-system should come up in India and investments have to be made", he added.

Regarding semiconductors, he said that India requires a resilient supply chain and the government has earmarked an amount of Rs 75,000 crore to be spent over a period of five years towards giving subsidy. Supplies were disrupted during COVID-19 affecting industries like automobiles.

Krishnan said one of the goals of the government is to make the digital economy of the size of USD one trillion by 2030.

According to him, the increasing digital sector is an enabler of growth and technological advancements will give boost to productivity.

"Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are coming together with improvements in the hardware", he said.

"Presently the portion of the hardware component in the country's digital economy is USD 100 billion. This amount should go up to USD 300 billion over five to six years time", he added.

Referring to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP) of 2023, he said that it has been enacted and the rules of the legislation are currently being drafted following which they will be put in the public domain.

"These rules will also act as a stepping stone to regulate data flows to AI", he said.

He also said there is heightened alertness in the case of cyber security to keep the cyberinfrastructure of the country safe.