Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology

21-January-2013 15:24 IST

Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Communications & IT chaired a round table on the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing

Sector here today.  Over 50 industry leaders participated. The Government has unfolded the new policy framework for creating an ecosystem of Electronics System Design and Manufacturing in the country. The new policy framework has been specifically formulated to cover sectors like avionics, automotive electronics, medical electronics, LEDs. This Round Table was organised to understand the needs and requirements of these sectors - to be dovetailed with the new policy.

At the round table, Shri Sibal received the first MSIPS application of over Rs 550 crore investment from Head of Bosch Electronics India. Shri Sibal, during the round table pointed out that India’s market and human resources will be huge determinants of this century. The demographic profile of the world will increasingly move greater and greater economic activity to India, he added. He pointed out that we are in the process of developing a scheme to scale up the number of PhDs in the country in the electronics sector, the target being to reach 2500 PhDs per annum by 2020.

Shri Sibal exhorted the participants that there is also a  huge opportunity to export from India. India can provide export incentives for 10 more years under the WTO-use that opportunity and export from India he said. He said that while the policy framework has been created, he recognized several steps need to be taken to enhance ease of business and reduce transaction costs. He also pointed out that we have provided for a time line for approving all projects under the MSIPS scheme.

AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS

Automotive electronics is an area where we can build on our software capabilities and growing manufacturing capabilities in the automotive sectors. Most major brands of car manufacturers are already in India. Electronics is becoming an increasing part of modern automobiles. Electronics can drive fuel efficiency and reduce accident hazards and need to meet the price points of economy cars in the Indian perspective. Automotive electronics manufacturers can customize their control units to suit these requirements and the percentage of automotive electronics would increase significantly.

AVIONICS

Avionics sector has huge potential in India. The demands of both passenger aircraft and defence and homeland security are huge. Some acquisitions have been made in recent years. More would follow. Based on India’s fleet of aircraft, we could aspire to become a regional hub for maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircrafts.

MEDICAL ELECTRONICS

Medical electronics devices is an area of immense potential. We need to develop devices which would meet the needs of 1.2 billion people. Currently a very small fraction of the population is able to take advantage of medical technology. We need devices which suit Indian diseases, Indian operating conditions of temperature, humidity, dust etc. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is already in the process of bringing out amendments in the legal framework to create standards for medial devices. This will help new devices to arrive in the market much faster. The Department is supporting the development of new medical electronic devices in a public private partnership model.

LEDs

LEDs are being used in large number of applications today starting from TVs, automobiles, mobile phones, computes, and of course luminaries. LED fab facility is being set up in India which will cater to both domestic and international demands. LEDs is an area where our domestic demand can itself spur a hugely vibrant manufacturing ecosystem. Opportunities to export to Middle East and Africa are additional.

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MV/RK

Electronics system design and manufacturing policy framework expands sector support, incentives and project approval timelines. The Government has created a new policy framework for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing covering avionics, automotive electronics, medical electronics and LEDs, supported by the MSIPS project-incentive mechanism with defined project approval timelines and measures to improve ease of doing business. The policy includes extended export incentives, plans to increase electronics PhDs, legal amendments to establish medical device standards, encouragement of public-private partnerships for device development, and sector-specific aims such as automotive electronics localisation, avionics maintenance hubs, and domestic LED fabrication.