Meity targets $500 bn electronics production by 2030 with detailed strategy

The government, under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), has taken on board Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) and consultancy firm Bain & Company to finalise a detailed strategy report for the country to hit an ambitious production value of $500 billion in electronics by 2030.

 

The report is expected to be released by Communications Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw in the next few days, said sources in the know. The ambitious vision for electronics was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a few months ago.

 

In July 2024, Niti Aayog came out with a study on how to power India’s participation in the global value chain (GVC) of electronics in which it envisioned that India could reach the magic number, with at least $200 billion coming from exports wherein both finished goods and components would play a major role. It also expected that this would lead to generating 5.5-6 million jobs. The study also suggested policy interventions to make the target reality across various areas.

 

Now, Meity is in the final stages of putting together a production linked incentives (PLI) scheme for electronic components, with a budgetary allocation of over Rs 40,000 crore to build a vibrant supply chain of components not only for the domestic market but also for exports across the world.

 

Based on discussions on the specific road map to achieve the target, the upcoming report is expected to break down the target across various segments of electronics, which include mobile devices, consumer electronics, auto electronics, telecom electronics, IT servers, hearables and wearables, and medical electronics.

 

The aim under discussion is to bring India’s share in global electronics production value to 6-7 per cent by 2030.

 

For instance, ICEA has submitted in its discussions that it can more than double production of mobile phones in India, which are currently at $57 billion (accounting for 12 per cent of global mobile production value), to $120 billion by 2030, going up to 16-17 per cent of global production.

 

However, in other segments, India is woefully behind, and will need to catch up fast. For instance, India’s share in IT hardware, small servers, and tablets is a mere 1 per cent of their global production value of $400 billion. In wearables and hearables, India’s production value is $2 billion compared to the global value of $80 billion.

 

In 2022, Meity had similarly prepared a road map with stakeholders under which it had targeted $300 billion on electronics production by 2026.

 

To put India’s electronics in perspective, it has a less than 1 per cent share of the global production value of $11 trillion. Its share of the electronics GVC is slightly better at 2 per cent.

 

Two, there is no doubt electronics exports have boomed — between April and November of the current financial year (FY25), it hit $22.5 billion, growing by 28 per cent over the same period of FY24. It is now the third-largest export commodity in the first eight months of FY25, compared to being at sixth in the same period of FY24.

 

But in comparison, India’s competitors in the electronics space in the global sweepstakes are way ahead — China has exported 37 times more of electronics in value, Vietnam 5.4 times, Malaysia 4.3 times, and even Mexico 3.4 times in comparison to India.