Manufacturing is at the top in the central government’s list of priorities, as evidenced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union Budget 2024-25 speech.

A number of measures were announced — from a reduction in basic customs duty for inputs and raw material to incentives around job-creation — that should ideally further prop up the already-booming manufacturing industry.

The customs duty exemption will in particular reduce costs related to manufacturing mobile phones, lithium-based batteries for consumer electronics devices, electric vehicles (EVs), drones as well as the other focus areas such as space tech and semiconductors.

Speaking with Inc42, 3one4 Capital’s Pranav Pai said that the government support to the homegrown manufacturing sector has addressed a significant barrier to growth. Hence, it eradicates reasons for investors who were hesitant about opportunities in India’s manufacturing ecosystem.

Stakeholders in the startup ecosystem believe that the manufacturing related enhancements will have a trickle down positive impact on the Indian startup ecosystem.

“Given that this was a mid-term budget, we didn’t anticipate many sector-specific initiatives. Overall, it was a positive budget for local employers and manufacturers across industries. Therefore, there hasn’t been much investor concern caused by the budget. Investors will continue to maintain bullishness on industries like EV, consumer electronics, deep tech, logistics, among others,” Pai added.

Cheer For Mobile OEMs

In a major boost to the growing smartphone market, the central government slashed the BCD for mobile phones, mobile printed circuit boards assembly (PCBA) and mobile chargers to 15% from the erstwhile 20%.

Xiaomi India’s president Muralikrishnan........

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