ESDM biz eyes $400 b opportunity

The India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) — representing the Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) — on Wednesday made a commitment to evolve the ESDM industry into a $400-billion ‘Make in India’ opportunity.

Addressing the gathering at IESA Vision Summit 2016, themed ‘Indian Semiconductor and ESDM Ecosystem: Scaling up for $400B Make in India Opportunity, DeitY Additional Secretary Ajay Kumar said, “It is the easiest time in Indian history to start and grow a company in India, and the government is keen on involving technology and ESDM sector in order to spur the ecosystem. Digital India will provide more impetus to the electronics sector in India.”

Between December 2014 and December 2015, India added 100 million internet users, more than any other country in the world. India achieved its first 100 million internet users in 15 years. There were 159 ESDM production units established in India last year, and the technology sector is expected to be a $1-trillion opportunity in India in the next 5-7 years — $400 billion of hardware, $350 billion of software and $250 billion of telecom and IoT. The technology sector could potentially contribute 25 per cent of India’s GDP.

“There is a huge opportunity for innovation with local languages. We cannot scale any technology products and solutions if the devices and services are not talking to 1.25 billion people in their local languages. The government has released a draft policy for supporting local languages, and making machine-translation into local languages a reality in India,” Kumar said.

According to IESA President M N Vidyashankar, “Investment in the electronics manufacturing sector has jumped over six-fold to reach Rs 1.14 lakh crore in 2015, and this re-established the need for initiating dialogues to seize the $400-billion ‘Make in India’ opportunity... IESA would focus on creation of more and more startups and will provide them with platforms to establish themselves in the ESDM ecosystem.”