Preeti Mishra, Bangalore
Financial Chronicle
The country’s electronic component manufacturing industry is losing ground to cheap Chinese imports priced nearly 25-30 percent less, especially in printer circuit boards (PCBs). Indian electronic component makers are now seeking to get trade barriers imposed against imports from the dragon country.
“There is a huge business potential in the Indian market, both for electronic components and printer circuit boards but we are constrained because these are capital intensive sectors. We have been successful in exporting small-to-medium volumes to European countries where we have good pricing, but on other areas Chinese imports are eating into the business,” Anil Kumar, president of the Indian Printed Circuit Association said
China holds 25 percent of the global printer circuit boards market thanks to millions of square metre capacity, while India’s production at $300 million falls short even of internal consumption, which is pegged at $2 billion.
Since printer circuit boards are used in all electronic products, there is a huge demand that can be filled by Indian companies. “As of now PCBs are largely imported from abroad due to the shortage in domestic production,” Kumar said.
Even though Indian companies have made some headway in strategic electronic components for use in defence and aerospace, other areas such as networking products, switches, mobile handsets, and communication technologies are yet to be tapped.
Moreover, the capital-intensive nature of the industry along with sluggishness on receiving governmental approval to set up production facilities is also constraining growth. India has around 60 mid-to-large size PCB units, but this can only increase if the country is able to attract foreign investors.
Already, a leading PCB firm backed out of its plans to set up a PCB manufacturing facility in India opting to move to Vietnam inside, according to an industry source.
The Vietnamese government is wooing global electronic component manufacturers including PCB makers to set up shop in the country. The Indian industry is looking to Japan for investment, and technology partnership.
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