Robust growth in demand for electronics products in India and growing labour cost in established manufacturing hubs of the world make for a compelling case for global electronics maker to move production to India, especially for products consumed in the country.

However, lack of manufacturing ecosystem and inadequate infrastructure (power, roads, railways & port) pose major hurdles in achieving the dreams of Make in India for electronics goods. Due to nascent stage of electronics manufacturing in India, scale of operations is low, resulting in reduced cost competitiveness, according to the Assocham-EY joint study, titled ‘Turning the Make in India dream into a reality for electronics and hardware industry’.

As per the study, the Indian electronic products industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.1 percent to reach $ 75 billion by 2017 from $ 61.8 billion in 2015 with increasing penetration across consumer products especially in semi-urban and rural markets, along with government push for infrastructure development, locomotive and energy, there exists a significant opportunity for rapid expansion of this industry.

The electronic components industry in India was valued at $ 13.5 billion in 2015, growing from $ 10.8 billion in 2013 at a CAGR of 11 percent. The market is dominated by electromechanical components (such as PCB and connectors) which form 30 percent of the total demand, followed by passive components (such as resistors and capacitors) at 27 percent, said the Assocham-EY study.

Traditionally, global electronics manufacturing has been dominated by Asian countries such as China, Taiwan and South Korea, who have built significant capacities across manufacturing value chain (SKD assembly, CKD assembly, semiconductor assembly & testing services). In addition, emerging destinations (Malaysia & Vietnam) have also built capacities.

However, India’s attractiveness for manufacturers is growing due to availability of low-cost labour. Rising manufacturing costs in China and Taiwan are compelling manufacturers to shift their manufacturing base to alternate markets. In 2014, the average manufacturing labour cost per hour in India was $ 0.92 as compared to $ 3.52 of China. Although labour cost is low in India, labour productivity is lower than traditional destinations, noted the study.

The basic infrastructure for any industry comprises good roads, power, water, telecommunications, ports and logistics. In India, availability of these facilities is not up to the mark, even in established industrial estates. While the Government has notified greenfield electronic manufacturing clusters, they still remain un-operational due to infrastructure issues.

The lack of proper roads and sales infrastructure results in distribution challenges for companies catering to markets in small semi-urban cities, rural areas and remote villages. Additionally, from both import and export perspective, there is port congestion due to unavailability of containers and long documentation process.

The Indian manufacturing ecosystem for electronics and hardware industry is still at a nascent stage and faces various demand side as well as supply side challenges are limited scale of operations and local component demand due to the nascent product manufacturing in India. Component demand in India is muted due to very limited value addition as primarily last-mile assembly takes place. Norms such as safety regulations for automotive, medical and industrial sectors have driven the uptake of electronic content globally.

However, manufacturers in India do not add high electronic content in the products due to limited industry-specific standards. The current market is dominated by secondary sales and primary sales are limited due to reduced disposable income in semi-urban and rural markets. The market penetration for most of the consumer appliances and electronics is currently lagging behind global average by up to 60 percent in certain categories and there lies huge untapped potential in rural markets (approximately 69 percent of India’s households).

Although, global markets are witnessing rapid consumer uptake as electronic content increases across verticals (eg, automotive with applications around safety, connectivity, infotainment, consumer electronics, smart homes, etc); India has a slower adoption as consumers remain highly sensitive to even a marginal increase in product prices.

Availability of relevant manpower is crucial to the development of any industry. Since the electronics manufacturing industry has high dependence on skilled manpower, especially for highly specialised activities such as electronics system design, IC design and manufacturing etc, the availability of talent with relevant skill sets assumes considerable importance.

Both SKD and CKD are labour intensive and require delicate handling and process adherence during the manufacturing process. With changing technology, the labour needs to be constantly trained. However, the current labour scenario in India poses certain challenges.

According to National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), the incremental human resource requirement in the electronics and IT hardware sector will be 8.9 million by 2022. The lack of training centres that administer courses relevant to the job functions in electronics sector is also a concern. Moreover, the country has strict labour laws including restrictions on overtime work, employee headcount and work timings for women employees, which act as a barrier for growth in the sector.

The high cost of working capital and capex-related financing (receivables and payables) due to high interest rates is a major challenge faced by domestic manufacturers, since it increases the overall cost of finance. Additionally, there is an increase in the cost of manufacturing (conversion costs) due to inadequate availability/reliability of power, high cost of real estate, etc. The cost of borrowed capital is 12-14 percent in India as compared with approximately 5-7 percent global average. Moreover, with the frequently changing energy efficiency norms, manufacturers need to make significant investments for products with a high rating.

India’s taxation system is complex, especially where indirect taxes are concerned. Currently, the base direct tax incidence in India stands at around 30 percent, whereas the corresponding tariff in other Asian countries is between 16 percent and 25 percent. Although, the Government has proposed the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) for a indirect tax system, there are concerns that the industry faces in terms of the clarity on the revenue-neutral rate, non-creditable tax on inter-state movement of goods, status of existing state incentives granted and transition from existing taxation system to GST regime.

“Procedural and regulatory clearances are time consuming and complex. According to industry sources, it takes up to a year to set up a manufacturing plant in the country and a new production line could take up to six months to become fully operational,” said the Assocham-EY study.

Additionally, the refund processes and clearances to avail benefits under tax are highly cumbersome and time-consuming. Procedure to claim concessional duty on many raw materials, parts & components used in manufacturing of electronics products has been recently simplified in the Union Budget 2016-17 by introducing the concept of self-assessment.

Source: Business Standard