India has the potential to become a $100-billion global manufacturing and export hub for printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) alongside mobile phone manufacturing by 2025-26, said a report on Thursday.

This will drastically reduce India’s dependency on China, which is currently the world’s largest exporter of PCBAs, the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) and EY said in a report titled ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat: Making India the global hub for PCBA’.

As per the report, the average contribution of PCBA to the Bill of Materials (BoM) is around 40 per cent and presents a $600-billion global market.

The four key electronic products segments that are estimated to witness growing consumer adoption in the forthcoming years — mobile phones; tablets, notebooks and desktop computers; Smart TVs, audio devices, video and music streaming devices; and consumer appliances (washing machine, refrigerator, AC and heaters) — constituted a $971-billion share in the $2.1-trillion global electronics market in 2018-19, the report said.

The dream of becoming the global electronics manufacturing hub cannot be realised unless the government provides support to mitigate the disabilities faced by the PCBA industry. If support of 6 per cent on exports of PCBAs can be provided, by 2025-26, the cumulative PCBA export for India can be about $109 billion. However, if no support is offered, the export is estimated to dwindle to $4 billion, it said.

“Companies manufacturing in India suffer a disability due to inadequate availability of quality power, infrastructure and logistics; lack of domestic supply chain; high cost of finance; and limited R&D. PCBA exports can be the next great opportunity for India’s electronics exports after mobile phones and appropriate incentives are being recommended in line with the PLI scheme announced for mobile phones,” Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA said.

It is crucial to offset the disabilities vis-à-vis China and Vietnam and encourage industry players to set-up manufacturing facilities in India, he said.

Consistent with ‘Make in India’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, the government had launched a trilogy of Production Linked Incentive (PLI), Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) and Electonics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC 2.0) schemes for attracting investments in mobile phone manufacturing.

“Over the past years, favourable policies and ecosystem collaboration have been pivotal in defining India’s mobile manufacturing prowess. The global demand for electronic products is evolving at an exciting pace, and India is emerging as a promising alternative for PCBA manufacturing. Now is the time to invest in the potential and embed electronics manufacturing in the fabric of ‘Make in India’ vision,” Prashant Singhal, Leader - Emerging Markets Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunications, EY, said.

The right policy impetus on PCBA can go a long way in transforming India from mobile phone assembly to full-fledged electronics manufacturing hub, he added.

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