Industry needs to convince the banking sector, sensitise foreign investors and build their confidence in the electronics sector to get investments
Wednesday, November 13, 2013: To achieve the electronics production target of US$ 400 billion by 2020, the government needs to boost innovation and investment in the electronics sector urgently, admits J Satyaranayana, secretary, department of Electronics & IT (DeitY).
Addressing CII-ICTE Conference on Developing Demand, Manufacturing Competitiveness & Exports, on November 12, in New Delhi, he said, “Investment and innovation are the two major areas that need serious attention, and which can address the challenges confronting the electronics industry in India.” Satyanarayana added that lack of finance is delaying several major projects, and urged the industry to convince the banking sector, sensitise the foreign investors abroad and build their confidence in the electronics sector to get investments.
The secretary also emphasised that there is a pressing need for innovations to happen in the electronics sector. “Instead of a large number of products, electronics industry should identify about 10 products and build the ecosystem around them,” he said.
Satyanarayana said that although the government has cleared seven electronics greenfield projects in different parts of the country, these projects did not progress much as infrastructural gaps need to be resolved.
Dr Ajay Kumar, joint secretary, DeitY, pointed out that 26 clearances are needed to do business in India. He said that this is a major hindrance in the growth of the industry. “We need to simplify the clearance precedures,” he said. He also urged the state governments to speed up clearances of projects that fall under their states. Dr Kumar informed that Rs 160,000 million worth of investment proposals have been received by DeitY, which the department could not clear on time. “This shows that we need to speed up and streamline the procedures at our end,” he added.
Satish K Kaura, chairman and managing director, Samtel Group, pointed out that one of the factors that pull down the electronics industry’s performance is that it is exposed to free market and free trade which made it vulnerable to much unfair competition and lead to huge dumping of goods in India by foreign manufacturers.
Amrit Manwani, CMD, Sahasra Electronics, emphasised that to make a company globally competitive, one needs to focus on three areas—developing knowledge on ones area; strong supply chain management; consciousness about quality; and a local presence.
Sanjiv Narayan, managing director, SGS Tekniks Maufacturing, suggested that the government should simplify Electronics Manufacturing Cluster scheme and Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme. He also urged the government to address the supply chain issues and that the industry faces and promote the EMS sector.
