New Delhi, Dec. 18 -- The government has a $3-billion incentive plan to create electronics brands and boost private research spending on the sector. It aims to draw investments and generate business worth over $15 billion, for which research and development would be critical. Mint explains.

What India does today is assemble devices at scale, for which research isn't vital. However, assembling operations typically have very little margins, and a significant part of it is earned by firms from China-leaving India with little value apart from being a market where access to labour is cheap. India can only move up the value chain when companies manufacture core components domestically, and also own patents for devices that are built and sold c...