New Delhi, Oct. 8 -- India's Rs.62,500-crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) is drawing interest from more than half a dozen companies seeking to tap New Delhi's cash incentives to build Indian smartphone brands, in a push to replicate the value created by Chinese electronics brands.

Industry executives and government officials that Mint spoke with said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), which announced the scheme on 15 July and notified it on 21 August, is already in discussions with industry stakeholders to assess which companies can credibly build Indian brands and how many such applications the government should consider.

Companies said to be seeking Meity's incentives include electronics manufa...