ELE Times December 2016 Electronics News in India | Online Electronics Mag | Page 10

News

DRDO Signs MoU with IIT Delhi to Establish JATC
Defence Research & Development
Organisation (DRDO) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),
Delhi to establish a ‘Joint Advanced
Technology Centre’ (JATC). JATC will be
located in the campus of IIT Delhi at the
upcoming Science and Technology Park
(Mini-Science Park ‘MSP’). The JATC will
enable Directed, Basic & Applied Research
and will engage with premier research
institutes through multi-institutional
collaboration. As per the MoU, DRDO will
facilitate towards advanced research to
utilize technology outcome in the

futuristic applications.
The objective for creation of JATC is to
undertake and facilitate multidisciplinary directed basic and applied
research in the jointly identified
research verticals. The researchers
will get the opportunity to work in
advanced areas of research namely
Advanced Materials for Ballistic
Protection, Advanced Mathematical
Modelling and Simulation, Advanced
Electromagnetic Devices and
Terahertz Technologies, Smart &
Intelligent Textile Technologies, Brain
Computer Interface & Brain Machine

Intelligence besides Photonic
Technologies, Plasmonics and Quantum
Photonics, etc.

India to have almost one billion mobile subscribers by 2020

India is expected to see a significant uptake in mobile
subscriptions, broadband, and connectivity by 2020, marking a
period of rapid development of the country’s mobile economy,
according to a new GSMA Intelligence study.
The report, ‘The Mobile Economy: India 2016’, noted that at the
end of June 2016, 616 million unique users had subscribed to

mobile services in India, making it the second-largest mobile
market globally, with almost one billion unique mobile subscribers
expected by 2020. India also overtook the United States in 2016
to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market with an
installed base of 275 million devices.
The report forecasts that improving affordability, falling device
prices and operator investments in network coverage and quality
will help deliver an additional 330 million unique subscribers in
India by 2020, lifting the country’s penetration rate to 68 per cent
of the population. India is also seeing an ongoing technology shift
to mobile broadband services; the number of 3G/4G mobile
broadband connections is forecast to reach more than 670 million
by 2020, 48 percent of the total connection base.
There will also be an accelerating move to 4G over this period.
The number of 4G connections is forecast to grow rapidly,
growing from just 3 million at the end of 2015 to 280 million by
2020.

Four-tier GST Tax Aimed to Lower Tax Incidence
In a major step towards the ‘uniformed tax’ economy, a council of
federal and state governments, announced the four main tax
slabs 5 percent, 12 percent, 18 percent and 28 percent under the
proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). The council has proposed
12 percent to 18 percent tax slabs for consumer durables and
electronics, whereas, white goods will be taxed at the rate of 28
percent.
India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) President
M N Vidyashankar had recently said that investments up to Rs 2
lakh crore are expected in India in the ESDM space within the
next four years.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that that
irrespective of rates, there should be one single return and single
authority to control the taxation system and only then the tax net
will be widen and revenue will be increased.
Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology (MAIT) is
optimistic that the GST tax structure being discussed will be in
favor of the ICT industry.

Welcoming the new announcement, Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) said that the new tax
regime would help in controlling inflation.
The implementation of the new pan-India indirect tax regime will
start next fiscal in April 2017.

ELE Times | 10 | December, 2016