Indian Electronics Industry

The Electronics Industry in India took off around 1965 with an orientation towards space

and defence technologies. This was rigidly controlled and initiated by the government. This

was followed by developments in consumer electronics mainly with transistor radios, Black

& White TV, Calculators and other audio products. Colour Televisions soon followed. In

1982-a significant year in the history of television in India - the government allowed

thousands of colour TV sets to be imported into the country to coincide with the broadcast

of Asian Games in New Delhi. 1985 saw the advent of Computers and Telephone

exchanges, which were succeeded by Digital Exchanges in 1988. The period between 1984

and 1990 was the golden period for electronics during which the industry witnessed

continuous and rapid growth.

From 1991 onwards, there was first an economic crises triggered by the Gulf War which was

followed by political and economic uncertainties within the country. Pressure on the

electronics industry remained though growth and developments have continued with

digitalisation in all sectors, and more recently the trend towards convergence of technologies.

After the software boom in mid 1990s India's focus shifted to software. While the hardware

sector was treated with indifference by successive governments. Moreover the steep fall in

custom tariffs made the hardware sector suddenly vulnerable to international competition. In

1997 the ITA agreement was signed at the WTO where India committed itself to total

elimination of all customs duties on IT hardware by 2005. In the subsequent years, a number

of companies turned sick and had to be closed down. At the same time companies like

Moser Baer, Samtel Colour, Celetronix etc. have made a mark globally.In recent years the electronic industry is growing at a brisk pace. It is currently worth US$ 32

Billion and according to industry estimates it has the potential to reach US$ 150 billion by

2010. The largest segment is the consumer electronics segment. While is largest export

segment is of components.

The electronic industry in India