MeitY Highlights India’s Transformation Into an Electronics Design and Manufacturing Hub
Article By : PIB India
India is becoming more and more relevant not just in terms of designing but also for manufacturing cutting edge technology and next generation products and devices.
As electronics global value chains are being re-shaped post-COVID 19, India is becoming more and more relevant not just in terms of designing but also for manufacturing cutting edge technology and next generation products and devices. This, according to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT (MeitY), during his address at the recent Deep Tech Summit – Transformation Through Indigenous Innovation in Bengaluru last week. The summit was organized by MeitY-NASSCOM Centre of Excellence (CoE) – IoT & AI.
“Up to 2014, the IT/ITes sector mostly represented India’s digital economy. After Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi government took over, the opportunities in the digital economy space have rapidly expanded and cover areas such as internet consumer tech, AI, data plus economy, electronics, space, automobiles, space,” said Chandrasekhar. “Segments of the economy that were slightly digitized are now racing forward with each building a future on intersection of digitization and Deep Tech.”
Under Modi’s government, deep tech, electronics and semiconductor sectors and designing and manufacturing of next-gen products and devices are going to be significant focus areas for our digital economy, startups and young Indians, Chandrasekhar added.
Highlighting the skilling efforts of the Government and the allocation of Rs8,000 crore for it in the Union Budget, the Minister said the talent inputs that are required to be an enabler for the expansion of the digital economy have been put in place.
“In Karnataka alone, 18- 20 lakh youth will be skilled for both blue-collar as well high tech, industry relevant and future ready jobs over the next three years,” he said.
The Minister also added that the Indian digital economy is no longer limited to certain centers of innovation.
“Innovation and talent are longer restricted to developed centers like Gurugram or Bengaluru but come from new and smaller cities,” Chandrasekhar said. He also spoke about the new arenas that Karnataka can become a technology hub and referred to the 300-acre plant being put up by one of the Apple Inc. suppliers, Foxconn, just outside Bengaluru in that context. He mentioned that it shall open new opportunities for the youth and catalyze the electronics manufacturing and deep tech ecosystem.
Prior to the Minister’s address, several startups showcased innovations especially in healthcare and spoke highly of the cooperation they were getting from the governments both at the Center and in Karnataka. Chandrasekhar highlighted the efforts of MeiTY NASSCOM Centre of Excellence in IoT/AI in Bengaluru for playing a critical role in catalyzing deep tech ecosystem in Bengaluru and Karnataka.
Other attendees included Ms. Kalavati, SVP, Head of Software-as-a-Service solutions & Software Center of Excellence, and Jitendra Chaddah, VP, India Country Head for GlobalFoundries, who termed India’s semiconductor policy as “the best policy rolled out by respective nations,” and asked Deep Tech Startups to “Stay there – there are going to be lot of opportunities.”
Recently, MeitY had signed a pact with Siemens Healthineers to develop new, improved and innovative technologies for advancing healthcare and diagnostic access in India.