Communication technology has brought economies of scale, North-eastern states will be growth engines: Scindia

Mint

29-05-2025

New Delhi: Developments in communication technology have brought economies of scale to India's telecommunication sector, said union minister of communications Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday.
Scindia, who is also minister for development of the North-eastern region, also said that states in that region will be the growth engines of the country.
Speaking at the CII Annual Business Summit 2025 in New Delhi, Scindia said he was working on a plan to revamp the postal service and incorporate more digital elements into the work done by postal officials.
"India is known as a digital-first economy. And leading that digital-first economy has been the telecom revolution in the country," said union minister Scindia. He added that the number of mobile subscribers in the country had risen to 1.2 billion this year, from 800 million a decade ago, and that the number of internet users had spiked to 974 million this year from about 250 million a decade ago.
Scindia attributed this growth to economies of scale, where manufacturers produce their goods and services in huge volumes to lower costs. He said the cost of voice calls had fallen to 0.03 paise per minute today, from over ₹ 16 per minute in the late 2000s.
He added that the cost of one gigabyte of data cost ₹ 287 a decade ago, and that it costs about ₹ 9 today. "There is a 97% reduction in cost of communication over the last 11 years," he said, adding that India will become the data capital of the world in the years to come.
Union minister Scindia said technology would also bolster the department of post, which has over 164,000 points of presence in the country, and could be identified as the largest distribution network in the world. "It is our resolve to convert the department of post from a cost centre into a profit centre over the next five years," he said.
Additionally, growth in the North-eastern region will be a driver towards India's ambition to become a developed country by 2047. The eight North eastern states - Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, and Nagaland -- have a decadal GDP growth rate of 12-13%.
This comes days after the ministry of development for the North-eastern region received a promise of investments worth ₹ 4.32 billion trillion in the Rising North East Summit 2025. These investments came from conglomerates, industry leaders, state-run firms, and other private investors, after the ministry conducted roadshows to attract investment into these eight states.
To ensure effective implementation of the proposed investment, the ministry has set up eight sectoral task forces focusing on agriculture, sports, investment promotion, tourism, economic corridors, infrastructure, textiles and handicrafts, and animal husbandry. Each northeastern state will also develop its own sectoral roadmap, Scindia had said on 25 May.
Infrastructure growth in the North-eastern region has helped these states grow faster, said Scindia. He illustrated that the government has constructed 6,000km of national highways in the last decade in the region, compared to about 10,000 km in the preceding 65 years. He also said similar growth was seen in the areas of aviation and airport infrastructure, as well as railways.
Highlighting that trust is a key component of India's growth story, Scindia said: "The India I bring to you today, is an India where trust is a system, where every policy, every rupee spent, every kilometer of road built, every metre of optical fibre laid, is a statement of intent.
India today has risen on the world stage. Therefore I will not speak to you on abstract values. I will speak to you with regard to delivery, with regard to measurable progress, with regard to outcomes, which inspire trust."
He said trust was a representation of five pillar of growth -- technology, reach, upliftment, scalability, and tradition and togetherness.