Monday, May 19, 2014:The Indian electronics industry is very excited with the Modi-led government coming in. While the industry has praised the initiatives of the outgoing UPA government, it expects the coming Modi-led government to take a step ahead in the development of electronics eco-system in the country.
The industry has expressed its expectations with the new government. The new government is expected to accelerate the pace of implementation of policies laid down for development of the domestic industry. As reported earlier, India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) Chairman Ashok Chandak said, “The present government has taken decisions, they have made policies…. Milestone have been done. Whosoever is the next government, whatever policy is there, should focus on execution and implementation.”
India got its first ever National Electronics Policy during the tenure of UPA government, which provided the much-desired boost to the domestic manufacturing. It also helped in reducing the dependence on electronics imports. The IESA was very instrumental the agenda for setting up of semiconductor fabs in the country.
First two electronics chip plants of the country got an approval during the tenure of UPA government. Commenting on the developments in the electronics industry, Rajoo Goel, secretary general, ELCINA, said, “The existing government has taken a number of steps to support electronics manufacturing in the last 2-3 years. The National Policy for Electronics (NPE) 2012 deserves special praise. There are a number of stumbling blocks in implementation that needs to be rectified.”
It is worth mentioning here that India imports over 90 per cent of the consumer electronics products. These imports are likely to cross the oil imports by 2020. Goel said, “Present policy caters to electronics manufacturing in general and is more suitable for equipment manufacturing & assembly activity. A special policy package is required for high value added manufacturing.”
The cost of production of electronics is about 7-8 per cent higher that the imports courtesy the high cost of finance, power and logistics, regulatory and procedural problems, added Goel.
