KOLKATA: The domestic handset manufacturing ecosystem has saved a whopping Rs 3 lakh-crore for the country, replacing imports of completely-built units (CBUs) with locally assembled and manufactured mobile handsets over the past four years, the India Cellular & Electronics Association ( ICEA ) said on Wednesday.“In 2017-18, over 225 million handsets were assembled/manufactured in India, which was roughly 80% of the total market requirement,” the ICEA said in a report. The ICEA estimates local mobile handset manufacturing will generate mobile phones collectively valued at Rs 1,65,000 crore by 2018-19 and pegs the turnover at 290 million handsets in the same period.In the first two quarters itself, the total value of locally manufactured handsets will exceed Rs 75,000 crore while the handset turnover volume is estimated at 130 million units, ICEA said. “Most global handset brands and manufacturers are eyeing India, which is the world’s fastest growing smartphone market, having overtaken US last year to become the world’s second largest smartphone market after China,” ICEA chairman & national president, Pankaj Mohindroo, said in a media statement.Mohindroo said mobile phone imports will “trickle down to an insignificant level of around 5-7% of the market — or less than Rs 1,000 crore a month — by end FY18” and India is rapidly moving towards near “zero imports” for mobile phones. “Since Reliance Jio Infocomm will soon be moving its entire production of Jio mobile handsets to India, the same success story will need to be emulated in other verticals of electronics and consumer appliances,” he said.The net foreign exchange savings, according to ICEA, is already “estimated to be over Rs 60,000 crore”. “While CBU imports have come down drastically, import of sub-assemblies and components though has gone up,” ICEA said. According to ICEA, the government’s ‘ Make in India ’ and ‘ Digital India ’ initiatives are “acting as gateways to spur the growth of India’s tech and telecom industry”.In the past four years, mobile handset and components manufacturing industry has enabled the establishment of over 120 new manufacturing units generating over 4.5 lakh jobs across states, the association added.