Is India’s Ecosystem for Electronics Start-ups Viable?
Termed as a land of abundance, whether it is biodiversity, spices, golden bird or recently as one of the largest consumer bases of digital devices, along these years, India has gained its popularity across many facets.
Nevertheless, as the country opened its gates at a global stage in 1991 with new economic reforms, surplus opportunities flooded the Indian market.
But still, India’s inherent local manufacturing capabilities got overshadowed by big tech companies due to a lack of a strong-willed and focused plan to tackle these incoming global vultures that entered the untouched Indian market for greater profits.
Though many sectors benefitted from globalization, the electronics and core semiconductor manufacturing market suffered the greatest blow with its underdeveloped growth.
But the tides began to change in early 2014, as several programs and policies related to uplifting local manufacturing got introduced one by one.
It started with the flagship project ‘Make In India’ which was later on joined by the ‘Digital India’ campaign in 2015, and together the two projects paved the way for transforming India into a global manufacturing and tech hub.
But the road to achieving 100% local production is no easy feat, especially in the electronics sector, so the government started focusing on promoting Electronics Start-ups in India which we are going to discuss in a lot more detail.
So, let’s jump right into the bandwagon of how India proceeded to create an ecosystem for Electronics Start-ups in India.
Advent of Electronics Start-ups in India
As the country forayed into the land of establishing and promoting Electronics Start-ups in India, the government launched several initiatives to build a startup-friendly ecosystem.
As abundant initiatives got introduced time after time like ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, ‘Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme’, the ‘Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors’ (SPECS), and ‘Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters’ (EMC 2.0), they all worked towards creating local manufacturing set up in the electronics market.
One of the most recent additions to this long list of initiatives in promoting Electronics Start-ups in India was the announcement of setting up a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) hub that included a 10-member panel, led by the Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney.
This MeitY hub aimed to tabulate a detailed process in supporting existing as well as upcoming start-ups, having the potential to solve India’s problems by granting them an equity investment.
Recent Challenges and Advancements for Electronics Start-ups in India
Noise with its headquarters in Gurugram is one of the most popular D2C consumer electronics brands in the country at this time
It mainly manufactures smart wearables and audio devices while boasting about its cutting-edge technology embedded with great design in quality products.
According to the company’s latest statement, a lot of integral parts needed by the company at present for creating the best tech for the consumers are not available in India.
Another one of the Electronics Start-ups in India, Automberg Technologies who designs as well as manufactures energy-efficient smart home appliances states that 95% of its products are usually manufactured and assembled in their Mumbai plant, but the remaining parts had to be imported.
Citing another Mumbai-based lifestyle consumer Electronics Start-ups in India, ICCON has also claimed to be designing and manufacturing 100% of its productions of many categories locally.
However, for their audio products, the company had to source its raw materials from top suppliers across the world.
Descending Towards a Self-Reliant India in Electronics Sector
As we focus heavily on Electronics Start-ups in India, the investment will always serve as the major hindrance in its growth.
Following this context, OPPO has recently announced its decision to sign an MoU with T-Hub to boost the start-up ecosystem of India.
Another major alliance that made news was the recent collaboration of MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) with Infineon Technologies India as they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed to foster the development of incubation centers, Centres of Excellence (CoEs), and start-ups in India especially in the sectors of Electronics and IT.
Road Ahead
Despite encountering serval hiccups in the last few years either due to an unsuitable environment for Electronics Start-ups in India, or lack of investments through FDI or the surge of COVID-19 that halted the growth of the electronics sector, India is steadily surging forward with a clear focus on promoting Electronics Start-ups in India.
The recent government-led schemes along with upcoming alliances will propel India’s start-up ecosystem to new heights.
Electronics manufacturing has the potential to act as a key contributor to the Make in India (MII) program. And this is the main reason why India’s government is stressing so much about setting up a friendly ecosystem for Electronics Start-ups in India.
