‘India on course to hit $300 bn electronics manufacturing target’
This is 20-25 times growth in almost a decade, claims IT minister
NEW DELHI: The government is right on the path to achieve the $300 billion electronics manufacturing target which will be a massive 20-25 times growth in almost a decade, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, said on Tuesday.
India can reach $300 billion worth of electronics manufacturing and exports by 2025-26 if specific product segments with high potential for scale are short-listed and catered to by way of incentives and policy measures, according to the Vision Document 2.0 prepared by the IT Ministry and the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).
“Electronics manufacturing in 2014 was about $12 billion and India’s target in just over a decade by 2026 is $300 billion i.e. 20-25x growth in 11 years. Thanks to PM @narendramodi ji’s decisive policies and governance,” Chandrasekhar said in a tweet.
Led by locally-manufactured mobile phones, India’s electronics industry saw a record exports of electronic goods at an estimated Rs 1,85,000 crore in FY22-23 - compared to Rs 1,16,936 crore in FY21-22 - marking a whopping 58 per cent increase.
According to data by ICEA, mobile phone exports made history by crossing the $10 billion threshold for the first time in any fiscal year, reaching an estimated $11.12 billion (over Rs 90,000 crore) in FY23.
The electronics manufacturing industry grew from $37.1 billion in 2015-16 to $67.3 billion in 2020-21. However, Covid-19 related disruptions impacted the growth trajectory in 2020-21 and led to a decline in the manufacturing output to $67.3 billion.
Furthermore, continuing on the path of import substitution, India’s domestic electronics market is estimated to reach at best $150-180 billion from the current $65 billion over the next 4-5 years.
“Thus, exports of $120-140 billion are critical to reach the $300 billion mark for electronics manufacturing. This, in turn, is key for the $5 trillion economy, $1 trillion digital economy, and the $1 trillion export target envisaged by MeitY and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, respectively,” the Vision Document 2.0 read.
“India is one of the leading contenders for alternate solutions for global electronics companies. The electronics sector has the potential to become one of the top exports of India in the next 3-5 years. Electronics exports may account for significant contributions to the Indian economy in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment generation,” said the document.
