To give fillip to electronics manufacturing, industry body Elcina has partnered with Vittal Innovation City (VIC) to launch India’s first Electronic Systems Design and Manufacturing cluster in Karnataka, reports the Hindu Business Line.
This cluster will come up in Ananthpur district, which is 117 km from Bangalore airport. This cluster will come up over 100 acres, out of a total 300 acres was procured by VIC.
Further, this cluster aims to attract about 40-50 mid-sized manufacturers of electronics components. Companies setting up manufacturing bases will get physical infrastructure (such as power backup), product certifications through test labs, enable knowledge creation, conduct Research and Development with handholding from VIC’s management team. However, once operational, it would be managed by cluster members.
“Additionally, we will help companies to market the components manufactured here and bring in investors who are keen to invest in these companies,” said N Vittal, chairman, Vittal Innovation City. According to Electronic Industries Association of India (Elcina) officials, this will help in generating about 18,000 jobs in the area.
“Electronics manufacturers, in a zero duty environment were finding the going extremely tough and this was impacting industry growth,” said T Vasu, president, Elcina. “This is a positive start and will help Indian manufacturers to compete with others,” said A. Gururaj, MD, VIC. The cluster has 130 Kilo Volt Amperes (kVA) of power readily available, and according to Elcina officials, adequate water requirements will be available too.
This is the first of the 200 manufacturing clusters planned by the Union Government. This electronics cluster is based on a recommendation by a task force that was set up the Union Government to grow the nascent electronics manufacturing market in the country.
Elcina and VIC are seeking special incentive proposal of subsidies in the range of 20-25 per cent on plant and machinery-related investments from the Union Government.
