‘85% of India’s PCB demand met by imports’: Experts at Bengaluru Tech Summit urge semiconductor scale-up

Wipro Electronics Materials Co-CEO Neeraj Pandita said less than 5% of its PCB is produced in India. The global PCB market is over $80 billion, and laminates (the foundational material for creating a PCB) market is about $20 billion, and this is expected to grow in coming years.

Bengaluru: The country’s Printed Circuit Board (PCB) production is so low that nearly 85 per cent of demand is met only through imports. A PCB provides a mechanical base for holding and connecting electronic components.

Speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Electronics Passive Components Ecosystem and Bare PCB — A $60-Billion Opportunity by 2030’ at the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Wednesday, panelists observed that India needs to scale semiconductor production, instead of heavy dependence on other countries, including China. Though it would not happen all of a sudden, the country should start scaling production, they further opined.

Wipro Electronics Materials Co-CEO Neeraj Pandita said less than 5 per cent of its PCB is produced in India. The global PCB market is over $80 billion, and laminates (the foundational material for creating a PCB) market is about $20 billion, and this is expected to grow in coming years.

He said Wipro Electronics’ Rs 500-crore PCB manufacturing unit is coming up in Doddaballapura, which will begin operations in nine months. He added that PCB production in the country remains very low and that 85 per cent of the country’s demand is met through imports. “However, there has been much encouraging progress in the last three months,” he said.

TDK India President (Sales & Marketing) Gagan Bansal said the passive components market is big in India. “There is a need for a lot of deep tech technology that doesn’t exist in India today,” he said, adding that students should also focus on electronics and semiconductor career opportunities, instead of software alone.

In another session, INOX Air Products Head (Business Development and Strategy) Diganta Sarma pointed out that regulatory challenges, especially high electricity and demand charges make manufacturing more expensive in India, compared to China. He said the country has fewer semiconductor engineers and limited local IP.