The Centre will hold discussions with the industry on electronics manufacturing related specifics in segments like automotive, defence, medical and power that are currently ruled by imports and the same will be incorporated in the new National Electronics Policy to be out in a couple of months’ time, a top official said at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi on Wednesday, reported United News of India.
“It is very important for us to also grow seriously in many other segments where imports are ruling the market, we have huge scope in India for – medical electronics, automotive electronics, power electronics, defence electronics and we are hoping to sit with industry to understand as to what will it take specifically to make it happen in India and that is going to be part of the new national policy on electronics, which we are coming out with,” said Ajay Prakash Sawhney, secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) at an ASSOCHAM conference on Electricals & Electronics Manufacturing.
Talking about the increasing number of SMT (surface mount technology) lines for PCB (printed circuit board) assembly, Sawhney said that his ministry expects that this year India would be able to attract about 400 SMT lines, marking a very significant increase in number of SMT lines that exist.
“Hopefully in a couple of years’ time and we are working hard towards this goal, we would be able to get most of the important sub-assemblies and the basic components also increasingly being manufactured in India, this helps us in value addition,” he said.
In his address at the ASSOCHAM conference, Union Minister of State Electronics and IT S.S. Ahluwalia said, “To ensure its survival in today’s competitive world, India needs to compete with other technologically advanced countries like China, Japan, the US and others.” He said while there is no dearth of talent in India, the government is constantly creating requisite policies and atmosphere to promote electronics manufacturing in the country.
“Under the aegis of Make in India, the GoI aims to increase the share of the manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product (GDP) to 25 per cent by 2022, from 16 per cent, and to create 100 million new jobs by 2022. We at Appliance and Consumer Electronics (ACE) industry currently are contributing significantly towards this,” said Manish Sharma, president and CEO Panasonic India and South Asia and president CEAMA.
