Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: Local production is insufficient to meet current demand, and that gap is only expected to grow.
The electronics industry of India, valued at $75 billion, is one of the largest in the world. Demand for electronics in India is projected to increase to $400 billion by 2020, while domestic production is expected to rise to only $104 billion, creating a gap of $296 billion to be met through imports.
The electronics industry is identified as one of the 25 core sectors for the “Make in India” program, which aims to boost Indian manufacturing. Total production of electronic goods is valued at $44 billion, while consumer electronics has the highest share, contributing around 30 percent of the total production.
The Indian electronics industry is predominantly driven by government initiatives such as Smart Cities, Digital India, Make in India, the Cloud initiative, E-governance, solar power, UIDAI projects, National Telecom Policy, the National Manufacturing Policy, National Knowledge Network and National Optical Fibre Network, as well as tablets for the education sector and various other broadband schemes etc.
The growing middle-class population, rising manufacturing costs in alternate markets, growing disposable income, adoption of high-end technology devices, declining prices of electronics and wider broadband connectivity, among other trends, are turning dreams into reality for the electronic industry.
India has the third-largest pool of electronics scientists and engineers in the world. India's electronics exports are valued at $6 billion. Electronics components and instruments constitute approximately 60 percent of all electronic exports from the country.
India is a net importer of electronics goods, with between 50 and 60 percent of demand for electronics products being met by imports. Total imports of electronics grew by over 15 percent in 2016, to reach an estimated $36.9 billion. Telecom instruments account for 40 percent of these imports, followed by computer hardware at 19 percent. Electronics components and instruments contributed 15 percent each, and consumer electronics 11 percent.
India’s large and rapidly growing demand for electronics creates an important export opportunity for Wisconsin companies.