Bengaluru, Aug 19 (Bureau) Hitting out at former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan for pointing out flaws in union government’s claim of India becoming a mobile phone exporter under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said when good economists become politicians, they lose their economic sense. He also said the celebrated economist has become a politician and shadow-boxing on behalf of somebody. “See, good economists, when they become politicians, then they lose their economic sense. Mr Raghuram Rajan has become a politician. And now he should come out in open and fight elections, conduct elections and participate in political activity.
Doing shadow boxing is not something which is good. He is trying to do shadow-boxing on behalf of somebody,” he said, replying to an UNI query in a press conference. The press conference was held after the G20 Ministers of Digital Economy Meeting held here. Further attacking Raghuram Rajan’s comments, Vaishnaw said all the countries in the world follow the Vietnamese model of assemblage and manufacturing of mobile phones. “Every country that has started electronic manufacturing, they have followed a path. That path is – you start with the first step which is to bring the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) and Semi Knocked Down (SKD) kits, and assemble them in any country. That is Vietnam’s example. They started it. Then comes the production of different components. Then comes the production of systems. That has happened in every country.
That is my first point,” he said. In an interview, Raghuram Rajan had pointed out the flaws in the central government’s claim that India has become a mobile phone exporter after the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme was introduced. The former RBI Governor had admitted that India is not a major manufacturer of mobile phones, but a major assembler of manufacturing phone parts which are exported to another country where the actual phone is put together. Vaishnaw further said despite the complexities involving the global supply chain, India will be reaching more than 30 per cent value addition in not more than 2 years. “The global supply chain is today so complex that there is no country which can claim that they have value addition of more than 40 percent. 40 per cent is the highest value addition any country can claim for their electronics manufacturing. We will be reaching 30 per cent plus value addition in the coming, maybe not more than 2 years. That is the progress we are making,” he said. Vaishnaw said there will be at least three major components of mobile phones that will not only be made for Indian consumption, but also for global supply out of India. “So, this kind of shadow-boxing that Mr Raghuram Rajan is doing is not a fair thing. He is a very well-accomplished economist. I request him to stay as an economist or turn into a politician,” he said.