From design innovation to supply-chain resilience, EMS industry experts reveal how ECMS is reshaping India’s electronics ecosystem in a webinar hosted by ELCINA, which highlights strategies, challenges, and growth opportunities.
ECMS is more than a policy; it is a paradigm shift from volume-driven subsidies to value-driven support. This is how Nirmod Kumar, Director at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, framed the scheme in June 2025 during ELCINA’s deep dive into the much-discussed Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS).
Three months later, at the end of September 2025, the first phase of ECMS closed with investment proposals totalling ₹1.15 trillion. ELCINA noted that this surge in participation is expected to double local value addition in electronics manufacturing from the current 15–20% to 35–40% over the next five years.
Overall, the ECMS has drawn exceptionally strong industry interest, with 249 applicants committing to manufacture components worth over ₹10.34 trillion—far exceeding the government’s target of ₹4.56 trillion. Key investment areas include enclosures, PCBs, electro-mechanical components, camera and display modules, and lithium-ion cells. ELCINA called the scheme a “game changer” that will reduce import dependence and help build a globally competitive ecosystem. Industry bodies say the overwhelming response signals rising investor confidence and urge states to facilitate faster investments and job creation.
In late October 2025, the government cleared the first seven ECMS projects worth ₹55.32 billion to boost domestic production of vital components such as multi-layer and HDI PCBs, camera modules, CCLs, and polypropylene films. Spread across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh, these units will generate ₹444.06 billion in output and over 5000 jobs.
In November 2025, the second batch of ECMS approvals unlocked ₹71.72 billion in new investments, expected to generate ₹651.11 billion in production and nearly 11,800 jobs across nine states. The projects span optical transceivers, oscillators, enclosures, connectors, camera modules, and multi-layer PCBs.
Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the ECMS is accelerating India’s integration into global electronics value chains and supporting its $500-billion electronics manufacturing target.
Amid these developments, on 26 November 2025, ELCINA reconvened to discuss how the ECMS can benefit EMS (Electronics Manufacturing Services) providers. Its first webinar under the Industry Dialogue Series: Scaling EMS Capacity: How ECMS Can Transform Your Growth Trajectory, brought together three experts from TESCOM, Syrma SGS, and Dixon Technologies to share insights and expectations from the scheme.
Across the session, Tescom, Syrma SGS, and Dixon Technologies offered complementary but distinct perspectives on how ECMS will reshape India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem. While their operational scales, technology readiness, and customer segments differ, all three were unanimously aligned: “ECMS is not just a subsidy; it is a long-term enabler that will structurally strengthen India’s electronics ecosystem,” as one panelist noted.
Tescom, representing mid-sized EMS companies, emphasised the scheme’s ecosystem-wide impact despite not being a direct beneficiary. Nandini B, the Director of Tescom, said, “We will definitely experience its impact every day through the strengthening it’s going to create in the overall electronics value chain.”
Shorter lead times and improved availability of critical components like PCBs and magnetics were highlighted as well, as Nandini pointed out, “Getting bare PCBs is our biggest challenge. We are expecting this to improve significantly in the next one or two years.” Tescom also noted indirect benefits such as lower logistics costs and more predictable supply chains.
Syrma SGS took a design-and-innovation perspective, framing ECMS as a pathway for Indian EMS firms to evolve from build-to-print to end-to-end value creation. “Design-led, innovation-led manufacturing is the only way to make a strong global mark—and ECMS is enabling exactly that,” said Sreedharan N G, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Syrma.
The company emphasised the scheme’s role in fostering early customer engagement, domain-specific expertise, and Six Sigma-level quality: “Design engagement lets us work with customers from the start—design for manufacturability, quality, reliability, testability, prototyping and validation. ECMS has been a great enabler for this.”
Dixon Technologies, drawing on its extensive experience scaling smartphone manufacturing, stressed pragmatic, stepwise growth. “We see the same equation in components. Incentives are in place, duties motivate local manufacturing, and India is among the world’s largest component markets,” said Ashish Priyadarshi, Vice President-New Business, at Dixon.
He highlighted the need for global technology partnerships, yield discipline, and a deep understanding of subcomponent margins: “Even global leaders partner with Korean PCB makers. Starting from scratch would leave us years behind China or Korea.” The company also sees opportunities beyond smartphones, in EVs, medical electronics, telecom, and IoT devices.
Despite differing priorities, the panel agreed on several common points:
- Technology upgradation is essential: “Advanced SMT, AI-powered AOIs, MES traceability, and robotics will be critical to meet OEM expectations and scale,” Nandini from Tescom noted.
- Workforce skilling is the biggest bottleneck: “Even though labour costs in India are nearly half of China’s, our quality and productivity costs are nearly double. Large-scale structured training programs are essential,” Nandini added. Priyadarshi corroborated this approach: “We bring Chinese experts to India for six to twelve months and send engineers to Chinese factories to accelerate hands-on learning.”
- ECMS is an enabler, not a quick ROI scheme: Panellists emphasised, “Immediate gains are limited, but full benefits will materialise over three to four years as domestic components become available,” reflecting a consensus that the scheme should be viewed strategically rather than purely financially.
Where they differed, Nandini B focused on operational resilience, highlighting Tescom’s priority on stabilising supply chains and ensuring predictability for mid-sized firms. Sreedharan emphasised innovation, design integration, and domain-specific expertise as key differentiators for EMS companies. Ashish Priyadarshi stressed stepwise scalability, global partnerships, yield discipline, and understanding subcomponent economics to build world-class manufacturing capabilities, noting that global OEM strategies influence component deployment.
The webinar concluded with a call for long-term collaboration over short-term opportunism. ECMS was recognised as a ‘game changer’ capable of raising India’s electronics value-add from low single digits to nearly 30%. Panellists agreed that workforce skilling, technology adoption, and complementary policies, such as PLI for capital equipment, are essential to leverage the scheme fully.
“India is at the cusp of exponential growth in electronics, but success depends on sustained investment in design, innovation, process excellence, and workforce development. ECMS is the platform, but readiness will determine how far India can go,” noted ELCINA.
Read EFY’s previous coverage of ELCINA’s webinar on ECMS: India’s Electronics Components Manufacture: Powering The Next Leap In Electronics
