'Huge scope for electronics hardware manufacturing'

If the government encourages an investor friendly business environment and supports it with growth oriented policies, the electronics hardware manufacturing sector could become a $50 billion industry by 2008, says a white paper released by Elcoteq Network Corporation.

The white paper, named 'EMS - Destination India', highlights the potential for development of the telecom equipment manufacturing sector in the country. Compared with the growth of the telecommunications services industry, the growth of the telecommunications equipment manufacturing industry in India has been slow.

The telecommunications sector is growing at more than 100 per cent annually and there are about 43 million cellular subscribers in the country. India's demand for telecom hardware - both terminal products such as mobile phones and digital devices and network equipment, is met largely through imports.

According to the white paper, more than 25 per cent of the telecom equipment in India is still imported and around 20 lakh handsets worth $130 million are imported into the country every month. This, the survey says, is primarily due to the absence of policies encouraging domestic production.