India Mobile Congress 2025: PM Modi Urges Industry & Start-Ups to Boost Mobiles, Electronic, Semiconductor Manufacturing

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the ninth India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2025 at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in Dwarka.

In his speech, PM Modi declared that the event has quickly become “Asia’s largest digital technology forum” and urged industry and start-ups to ramp up manufacturing of mobiles, semiconductors and electronics in India.

Addressing the opening session of the four-day show, held under the theme “Innovate to Transform”, PM Modi said the country’s digital rise from a 2G era to near-nationwide 5G coverage, owes much to a youthful, tech-savvy population and a vibrant start-up ecosystem.

“This success story has been written by India’s tech-savvy mindset, led by our youth, and propelled by our innovators and start-ups,” he said, adding that the IMC is no longer limited to mobile or telecom but spans the broader digital technology landscape.

PM Modi highlighted affordability and scale as milestones of India’s digital push, noting that the price of 1GB of mobile data has fallen to “less than a cup of tea.” He also pointed to India’s sizable developer community and its indigenous 4G stack, a capability he said places the country among a handful of nations with homegrown telecom technology.

‘Invest, Innovate & Make in India’

Framing the moment as a prime opportunity for manufacturing and innovation, PM Modi urged businesses and investors to accelerate ‘Make in India’ efforts. “This is the best time to invest, innovate, and make in India,” he said, pointing to recent policy adjustments such as GST rationalisation and reforms aimed at improving ease of doing business.

He also praised start-ups at the congress for showcasing use-cases on critical topics such as financial fraud prevention, optical and quantum communication, and semiconductors, areas the government sees as central to the country’s next technological leap.

International Engagement

IMC 2025 brings together a broad mix of international delegations and industry leaders; participating countries include Japan, Canada, the UK, Russia, Ireland and Austria. The event aims to strengthen global partnerships and highlight opportunities for cooperation on semiconductors, connectivity standards and secure AI adoption in regulated sectors.

Organisers said the congress will function as a marketplace for ideas and deals, from policy dialogue and standards work to commercial pilots and investment conversations, at a time when India is aiming to move up the value chain from adoption to domestic production and global exports of advanced digital technologies.

India Mobile Congress

Organised jointly by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), IMC 2025 runs from Oct. 8–11 and will showcase more than 1,600 new use-cases across areas such as 5G/6G, artificial intelligence, smart mobility, cybersecurity, quantum communications and green technology.

The programme includes over 100 sessions, featuring roughly 800 speakers, and is expected to draw about 1.5 lakh visitors, 7,000 global delegates and more than 400 companies from over 150 countries.

The congress places special emphasis on strategic priorities for India’s tech trajectory, optical communications, semiconductor development for telecom, quantum communications and fraud risk indicators, reflecting the government’s focus on digital sovereignty, next-generation connectivity and cyber-fraud prevention.