“New PLI scheme for electronics components manufacturing needs to adopt a multi-pronged approach” A. Gururaj, MD, Optiemus Electronics

Gururaj, Managing Director, Optiemus Electronics

A. Gururaj, Managing Director, Optiemus Electronics, said, “2024 has been a milestone year for the Indian electronics manufacturing industry witnessed a significant growth with the government initiatives, policies and industry’s efforts. The electronics manufacturing in India has pegged around $115 billion market in 2024 nearly doubling itself in the last six years and the government’s industry-specific initiatives like PLI, ease of doing business policies and more importantly, changing geo-political scenario have given a significant push to India’s ambition in electronics manufacturing.

As India’s trajectory in the electronics manufacturing industry continues to ascend, we are witnessing a significant shift in how global companies view India—not just as a market but as a major hub for their manufacturing operations. The increasing number of strategic alliances between Indian companies and global giants underscores the growing confidence in the capabilities of Indian electronics manufacturers. We can already witness the government’s focus to further expand the Make in India vision by building and supporting an entire ecosystem where the announcement for the PLI for electronics components has come as a major move which will cover a wide range of components.

At Optiemus, we continue to strive with our focus on innovation and our belief in the capabilities and significant market potential remains intact. Today, we are actively working in the telecom equipment and hearable/wearable categories with a number of brands, especially manufacturing for Tejas Networks and other brands like Xiaomi, etc. We are also further delivering innovation in the Drone business and have launched a number of products and initiatives. In a path-breaking move, we have also partnered with Corning International and laid the foundation stone for the manufacturing plant in Chennai.

In 2025, we are looking forward to continuing the momentum and forging further partnerships with the brands especially in telecom and IT hardware products like servers. We are confident that we will be able to almost double our revenues in the next two years. In the coming year, we will foray into various areas in the electronics supply chain for greater value addition in India. We also plan to partner with companies from other countries to promote greater ODM capabilities in India.

To be successful, the new PLI scheme for electronics components manufacturing needs to adopt a multi-pronged approach, such as having adequate capital expenditure support, providing necessary operational expenditure incentives, addressing non-tariff barriers, and providing access to global markets to allow Indian companies to compete globally. The industry also needs to create products where produced can be used to create new markets. From that point of view, we need access to global markets, support for testing, getting global approvals, etc. Another aspect that needs to be looked at when it comes to developing a full-blown electronics manufacturing ecosystem is the potential to create high-value jobs. Unlike assembly of finished goods, where floor staff are required, we would need a highly skilled workforce to reach this next level.”