As Apple supports NavIC, Centre considers making tech mandatory, offering additional incentives

To increase the adoption of the homegrown navigation system, the government is also considering offering additional incentives to smartphone makers in the next round of its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme if they use chips designed or manufactured in India which support NaviC technology, he said.

“In line with the incentives that we have announced under the IT hardware PLI, where cashback to companies can significantly go up if they use India-designed or -manufactured chips in their systems, we will extend the same idea to the smartphone PLI as well for using domestic chips that support NavIC,” Chandrasekhar said.

“Increasingly we will make it mandatory as it is already in the automobile segment, we will make it almost mandatory that all the devices that use GPS use the NavIC chipsets,” he added. He clarified that the requirement will only be to include NavIC and not exclude other comparative GPS systems.

Currently, only a handful of smartphones — from manufacturers such as Poco, Vivo and Xiaomi — support NavIC.

Developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), NavIC was approved in 2006 at a cost of $174 million but became operational only by 2018. It is India’s attempt at building an independent standalone navigation satellite system, something rival China has already done.

Earlier this week, as Apple announced its latest iPhone lineup, it said the two ‘pro’ model phones will support NavIC. This is the first time Apple has added support for NavIC to any of its iPhone models.

“But the chip that Apple is using for navigation and positioning is being designed by Qualcomm, and we want to create an incentive structure that will encourage companies under the PLI schemes to use NavIC-supporting chips designed or made in India,” Chandrasekhar said, adding that incentives similar to those under the IT hardware PLI could be offered to smartphone makers.

Under the IT hardware PLI scheme, companies that manufacture laptops, computers and servers and source locally made components including memory modules, solid state drives and display panels will also get additional incentives under the restructured scheme.

The measure under consideration could also extend beyond incentives, with the government mandating that smartphones manufactured in India must support NaviC technology.

It is learnt that Apple’s support for NavIC came after months of discussions between the government and smartphone manufacturers. Companies were learnt to have pushed back initially, citing high research costs for integrating the technology.

But Apple’s adoption of the technology could propel NavIC into mainstream acceptance. However, several facets of how NavIC might be used within the iPhones are still unclear as the company has yet to share those details.

In May, ISRO launched the first of the second-generation satellites for its navigation constellation. The second-generation satellites will send signals in a third frequency, L1, besides the L5 and S frequency signals that the existing satellites provide, increasing interoperability with other satellite-based navigation systems.

The L1 frequency is among the most commonly used in the Global Positioning System (GPS) and will increase the use of the regional navigation system in wearable devices and personal trackers that use low-power, single-frequency chips.

“India’s successful lunar mission, Chandrayaan 3, ISRO’s successful launch of the Aditya L1, its maiden solar mission, and the mainstream acceptance of the NavIC technology shows India’s growing power as a space nation,” Chandrasekhar said.

Aside from NavIC, the iPhone 15 models also support other domestic GPS alternatives, for example, Russia’s GLONASS and China’s BeiDou.

Roadmap for NavIC

Currently, only a few smartphone makers support India’s homegrown navigation alternative to GPS, which, the government says, can offer better resolution output for places in the country and adjoining areas. Apple’s adoption of NavIC could help with its mainstream adoption. Now, the government wants to encourage sourcing of NavIC-supporting chips that are made or designed in India under the PLI scheme.