17 projects approved under electronics scheme, to add ₹65,111 cr output

THe regime, below the Electronics factor Manufacturing intrigue (ECMS), has sanctioned the second tranche of projects to boost the production of electronic goods and their components within the country.A total of 17 projects, with ₹7,172 crore investments, were approved on Monday by the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY).An official within the IT ministry had told HT that the government plans to announce new projects under the ECMS every fortnight.The first tranche with seven projects was announced on October 27, with an investment of ₹5,532 crore. With this second set of announcements, the government has cleared projects worth ₹12,704 crore out of a total ₹1.15 lakh crore of total expected investments under the scheme, with 24 out of 249 projects cleared so far.The 17 approved projects will set up manufacturing units across nine states and union territories, namely five in Karnataka, three each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and one each in Jammu, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Goa.At the event organised by India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) in New Delhi, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that early scepticism about India’s electronics ambitions had been dispelled.“There were many naysayers, and those naysayers are now proven wrong. You have shown the way how this country will become a major electronics manufacturing hub,” he said.Vaishnaw noted that the government first pushed for large-scale assembly of finished products to build domestic volumes, which in turn created demand for components. He added that the next step was to “focus on a set of components which are very critical for a long-term growth of the electronics manufacturing ecosystem.” This approach, he said, led to the conception and rollout of the ECMS.Notably, two projects mark the first-ever establishment of manufacturing units for optical transceivers, by Jabil Circuit India in Gujarat and Zetchem Supply Chain Services in Tamil Nadu. Optical transceivers convert electrical signals from a computer or network device into light signals that travel through optical fibre, and back into electrical signal, and is widely used in data centres.Also Read:Govt okays ₹5,532 cr for electronics components manufacturing schemeWith more data centres coming up in India, this capability will be important, the minister said. The two projects will meet 237-250% of domestic demand and position India for export leadership, the government said in a press note.Under the second tranche, approvals will also target production for camera modules, connectors, oscillators, enclosures, with the biggest chunk going to multi-layer PCBs at ₹3,183 crore.The government said that this marks the largest ever expansion in PCB manufacturing, with ₹6,463 crore per year added, totalling ₹12,534 crore per year, covering 32-33% domestic demand. The multi-layer PCB facility coming up in Jammu, to be run by Meena Electrotech, is the first such project approved in the territory under ECMS.The basic objective of the scheme is to deepen the value chain in India, said IT secretary S Krishnan, calling for innate and in-built competitiveness.“It (ECMS) also is to be a crucible based on which we would be able to look at other parts of electronics and not just mobile phones, which are now about 45% of the overall industry. So various other elements of electronics — auto, vehicle or other consumer electronics — will benefit. And who knows, there might be newer devices like how the mobile phone devices were about 20 years ago to us, which would need the support,” added secretary Krishnan.The projects approved are expected to contribute to ₹65,111 crore worth of production. With an expected production output of ₹44,406 crore from the first tranche, this takes the total projected production value created so far to ₹1,09,517 crore.Vaishnaw outlined three priorities for the industry: development of in-house design teams as a “non-negotiable,” maintenance of six-sigma production standards, and using swadeshi (home-grown) services and products across their factories, plants and labs.The minister said the government is developing a new electronics manufacturing skilling framework under Skill India, in partnership with social-sector organisations. With more projects coming up, the talent pool must grow, he said, adding that the programme will focus on Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities to provide hands-on training and make youth directly employable.Urging the industry to build indigenous capital goods capabilities as a national mission, ICEA chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said that advanced machinery tools, procedure equipment are the backbone of competitive electronic manufacturing and local capability will decide the depth and resilience of India’s value chain. “When we master the machines, we master the market,” he said.Also showcased at the event was a prototype of India’s “first energy-efficient edge silicon chip” developed together by Cyient Semiconductors and Azimuth AI. The platform-on-chip, called ARKA-GKT1, is said to offer up to ten times higher performance for applications such as smart utilities, smart cities, battery systems and industrial Internet of Things.