Govt okays ₹5,532 cr for electronics components manufacturing scheme

THe regime on mon sanctioned the number one mint of projects under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), with seven proposals cleared involving a total investment of ₹5,532 crore, with an expected production output of ₹44,406 crore and the creation of more than 5,100 direct jobs.The ₹5,532 crore is the first tranche of announcement out of a total ₹1.15 lakh crore of total expected investments under ECMS. A senior official of the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) told HT that the government will be announcing consequent tranches every fortnight.The ECMS, notified in April 2025 with a budget outlay of ₹22,919 crore for six years, has received a strong response from both domestic and global investors, with 249 applications proposing total investments of ₹1.15 lakh crore, projected production worth ₹10.34 lakh crore, and potential employment generation for 1.42 lakh people. A MeitY official told HT that over 150 of these applications have been approved till now.MeitY minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, announcing the approvals, said “20% of our domestic demand for PCBs and 15% of camera module sub-assembly will be met through production from these plants.” About 60% of the output from these six units is expected to be exported.Of the seven approved applications, six manufacturing units will be established across four states, producing key electronic components used in devices such as mobile phones, drones, medical equipment, and robotics systems. The Kaynes Group will set up three of these units in Tamil Nadu - two in Chennai and one in Tuticorin - with a combined investment of ₹3,280 crore. These facilities will produce multi-layer printed circuit boards (PCBs), high-density interconnect (HDI) PCBs, camera module sub-assemblies, and copper clad laminates (CCL). SRF Limited will invest ₹496 crore to build a plant in Madhya Pradesh for polypropylene film which is also completely imported by India. Syrma Strategic Electronics and Ascent Circuits will establish multi-layer PCB units in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with investments of ₹765 crore and ₹991 crore, respectively.Notably, Kaynes Group’s CCL facility coming up in Tuticorin will be the first such facility in India. CCL forms a key component used for manufacturing multi-layer PCBs which goes into every electronic equipment. Currently, India’s demand for CCL is entirely met via imports. The minister said that the whole of this demand would now be met through the Kaynes Group’s unit, with an investment of ₹1,167 crore, production output of ₹6,875 crore and whilst also generating 300 jobs.“The plants for multi-layer PCBs and HDI will be up and running by April 1 of next year. The CCL plant will come up at the end of 2026 or early 2027. It’s a first of its kind facility spread over 5 lakh square feet, with 100% of the country’s requirements met by this plant. We have partnered with various companies for various technologies,” Kaynes’ executive vice chairman Ramesh Kunhikannan told HT.IT secretary S Krishnan said it was crucial for all these projects to become operational quickly, emphasising that time was of the essence as the government works to boost domestic value addition in electronics. Through the ECMS, the government aims to double India’s current value addition, which stands at about 15 to 20%, and strengthen the country’s integration with global value chains.“Today India consumes about $130 billion of electronics, out of which the consumption for PCBs is $4 billion. Out of this $4 billion, 90% is imported. There is a huge demand where Indian manufacturers need to step up and the path-breaking ECMS is going to bring down our import dependence and bring up our local production,” Jasbir Singh, additional director at Ascent Circuits told HT. “Around 5-10 years from now, the electronic consumption is expected to touch $300 to $400 billion, and the PCB demand will jump from 4 billion to 10-12 billion. So if we don’t cut down on the imports, it will be a big import bill which we will need to take care of.”Ascent Circuits is also setting up a HDI PCB manufacturing plant near Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, with an investment of ₹3,200 crore. This facility is expected to be up and running by 2027.