Chatterjee pointed out that affordable technology is what Meity is focussing upon

The Jan-dhan, Aadhar and mobile (Jam trinity) cannot be achieved to their full capacity until there is a sufficient number of smartphones. The month of December has seen the most number of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions in a single day. This digital infrastructure is a major milestone for the entire Indian economy, in which smartphones have played a prominent role. “Internet penetration is almost 80 per cent of the Indian population and mostly it is done by the smartphone,” said Sandip Chatterjee, Scientist ‘G’ and Senior Director, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), Government of India while addressing a special session at Recycling For A Greener Tomorrow Conclave & Awards.

Chatterjee also added, “India is going to become a USD 7 trillion economy, as Finance Minister stated recently, and 25 per cent of this is going to be digital economy. And, the digital economy is not possible without electronics.”

Chatterjee highlighted that India has become the second largest mobile manufacturer now and added, “We (India) have shown the world that if we have performance linked-incentive (PLI) kind of scheme, then we can also show the world what manufacturing actually is.”

He also emphasised the process involved in making a smartphone and said, “69 elements of a periodic table are used to create a smartphone, of which nine are rare earth elements.”

The scientist also pointed out that foreign countries have a legal provision called y story in 10 minutes, ‘Right to repair’, which India does not have, and this is the area where India is lagging.

Initiatives have been taken worldwide so that recyclability and refurbish-ability can be achieved easily. He also mentioned, “NITI Aayog came up with ‘Circular Economy Action Plan’ in the year 2021, where 11 verticals were dealing with this.”

Chatterjee pointed out that affordable technology is what Meity is focussing upon.