Govt's new schemes to focus on promoting exports of electronics: IT Secy

New Delhi: New schemes introduced by the government will focus not only on manufacturing of electronics in India, but also on positioning the country as an export hub, a top government official said Monday.

Speaking at MAIT's Electronics Manufacturing Summit 2019, Electronics and IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney said there has been "widening and deepening" of the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

He added that apart from various brands coming to the country to set up manufacturing base, their supply chain partners have also started participating.

"I think we have to focus not just on manufacturing, this time we have to focus on exports. Many of our new policies that will replace the schemes that have run the course, they will focus on exports, we will focus on bringing in supply chain partners..." he said.

The official said many multi-national companies are already using their Indian outfits for design and research and development (R&D) of new products and services, and with the electronics manufacturing ecosystem now growing strongly, there is a "tremendous opportunity".

"It is important for us to not just manufacture, but also to be a part of the global ecosystem... It's important to not just assemble in India but how well we are integrated with the global supply chain and what can we do to move this," Sawhney said.

John Kern, senior vice-president (supply chain operations) at Cisco, said India for the World, an export model, is the only viable path to enable India to compete in the global supply chain.

"And, I hope we can create incentives to enable India to build a competitive manufacturing and supply chain industry that can compete for exports at a global scale," he added.

Kern said Cisco started manufacturing in India about 18 months ago and has shipped many switching and wireless technology products out of India. In the process, it has created jobs, developed local suppliers and provided training on advanced manufacturing.

"We need a cost-effective export model, and we need stable, consistent policies. I believe this is consistent with any company trying to remain viable in this hyper-competitive global market," he noted.

MAIT President Nitin Kunkolienker said India's demand for consumer electronics has grown tremendously in the recent past, leading to an increase in import.

"Despite the demand, manufacturing in consumer electronics has been limited to assembly of components. Currently, domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing is far less than the global average," he said adding that reforms like 'Make in India' will help the nation in becoming the hub for the global electronics market.

During the event, Coconics -- a public-private company set up in Kerala by UST Global, KELTRON, KSIDC and Acceleron Labs (an Intel India Maker Lab accelerated startup) -- unveiled its range of laptops designed in India.

The laptops, to be manufactured in India, will cater to the varied requirements of governments, enterprises and educational institutions.

Coconics said it expects its products, which will be competitively priced, to be available for distribution by the second quarter of 2019.

Coconics has a manufacturing plant in Monvila on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, which has a capacity to make 2.5 lakh laptops.