Optiemus Charts India’s Electronics Ascent in 2023, Targets Higher Ground in 2024
By A. Gururaj
2023 has been a pivotal year for Optiemus and the Indian electronics manufacturing industry, laying the groundwork for India’s ascent as a global electronics manufacturing hub. Our landmark partnership with Corning for first ever Make-in-India finished cover glass parts and our collaboration with Xiaomi to manufacture their first wireless audio products in India underscores our unwavering commitment to the government’s vision of achieving US$300 billion in domestic electronics production by 2025-26. A significant milestone, we also partnered with Intel to develop and manufacture Intel chip powered laptops. We also forayed into drone manufacturing for India and global markets.
2023: A Watershed Year for Indian Electronics
Recognizing the immense potential in the Indian electronics manufacturing market, we also recently expanded our infrastructure to meet client requirements. We introduced high-quality surface-mount technology (SMT) for leading brands keeping the quality of all the products at the forefront.
If we look at the current market, India is now the world’s second-largest smartphone market and is projected to have 1 billion smartphones by 2026, up from today’s 659 million, as per PwC. India’s annual laptop and PC market is worth about US$8 billion. Also, the indigenous production of electronic goods in the country has more than doubled to INR 8.25 lac crore in 2022-23 from INR 3.88 lac crore in 2017-18.
At Optiemus Electronics, we are proud to be a major contributor to India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem with our two state-of-the-art facilities in Noida. Our partnerships with renowned brands have enabled local product manufacturing ecosystem, reducing overall costs and supporting the “Make-in-India” initiative. Additionally, we hold the Production Linked Incentive license for mobile manufacturing, IT hardware and telecom products, further showcasing our commitment to domestic manufacturing and self-reliance in the electronics industry.
Outlook for 2024
In 2024, we see greater acceleration and momentum in the electronics manufacturing sector. Different PLIs by the government will continue to act as a bedrock for India to become an electronics product designing and manufacturing hub for global exports in the electronics and telecom sector. The growth of the electronics sector has been so pronounced that the global brands are pivoting towards India for their manufacturing requirements.
We are constantly looking at ways to increase the localization of the components and processes in manufacturing electronics products in India. At present, the hardware’s bill of material has been localized to 20 percent. We further aim to elevate this to 45 percent in the next year in order to cut costs, streamline the supply chain, and bolster quality control.
As the electronics manufacturing industry is labour intensive, we currently employ 3000+ people at the existing plants in Noida and plan to nearly double this current workforce in the next few years, to meet the growing demand. We are now actively engaged in categories like IT Hardware and telecom equipment, expecting significant growth in the Indian electronics market in the coming year. Our focus is on staying ahead in the industry and meeting the evolving needs of our customers.
(The author is A. Gururaj, Managing Director, Optiemus Electronics Ltd., and the views expressed in this article are his own)
