Chipping away

Recalling the ‘Swadeshi movement’ which played an integral role in India’s freedom fight, one can immediately realise the significance of such a movement in today’s context. When Mahatma Gandhi urged our countrymen to boycott foreign products and start using indigenously developed products, it created history and helped India free itself from colonial rule. Making India reliant on ‘Made in India’ products can bring about a similar revolutionary transformation to our economy.

The year 2014 was a milestone in making this vision a reality. It’s time to build on it and show the world the power of the ‘Make in India’ ecosystem. For the electronics and semiconductor manufacturing sector, there were a host of policy developments and action on the ground, including developments on setting up of fabrication units and Electronic Development Fund.

However, in order to position India as a global hub for excellence, manufacturing must go hand in hand with innovation; product development should be backed by excellence in system design, pushing the emerging start-up ecosystem in the ESDM (electronic system design and manufacture) space to flourish.

Innovation in critical verticals such as medical, automotive and consumer electronics has the power to transform the country at the grassroots level. With new technology advancements coming up, healthcare and treatment are becoming cheaper and more progressive. Much of the current electrification of rural India has been spurred by the increased demand for clean power, particularly solar energy. Nearly 100 public- and private-sector firms are involved in assembling and supplying solar photovoltaic systems and manufacturing solar cells, modules and panels. The government, too, is playing a significant part in providing various facilities and schemes to extend the reach of electricity in the rural areas.

India’s defence budget has grown to ₹2,24,000 crore, with 40 per cent allocated to capital spends. India already has strong electronic design capabilities and recently electronic manufacturing services (EMS) have also begun to catch up rapidly with the demand for quick-to-market defence electronics.

Product awareness, affordable pricing, innovative products and high disposable incomes of people have aided the strong growth of the consumr electronics segment. The government’s intervention in the form of duty/tax reforms, export subsidies, innovation fund and preferential market access schemes are expected to usher higher levels of indigenous manufacturing.

The government is fully aware of the immense need of building cities which are smart, modern and meet the needs of 21st century. Making 100 smart cities will give the required push to the growth of our domestic ESDM sector, a core area where the semiconductor and electronics industry has a lot to cash in on. Urbanisation and speedy adoption of new technology will also spur the ‘Internet of things’. It is also estimated that Indian tech firms have $18 bn biz opportunity using IoT.

The recently announced Electronics Development Fund will be crucial in providing a huge thrust to support start-ups in the electronics space. Offering incredible innovation opportunities will assist to overcome key challenges faced by the start-up community and help to realise the government’s Make in India dream.

We cannot afford to miss the bus this time.

The writer is the president of India Electronics & Semiconductor Association

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