Electronics giants like Dixon Applied sciences, Micromax plan Rs 1,000 crore funding, associate hunt on, ETCFO

India’s prime electronics contract makers corresponding to Dixon Applied sciences, Micromax and Optiemus Electronics plan to speculate about Rs 1,000 crore every to benefit from the not too long ago introduced Rs 22,919-crore part manufacturing scheme that’s been lengthy awaited by the business.
The main target shall be on high-value parts and sub-assemblies that represent greater than 50% of the bill-of-materials in completed electronics, together with cell phones and laptops, executives on the firms and business our bodies advised ET.
The cupboard Friday accredited the electronics part manufacturing (ECM) programme geared toward growing a sturdy provide chain in India, boosting funding and creating jobs. The scheme, which gives incentives based mostly on turnover and capital expenditure, targets sub-assemblies, naked parts and capital gear in a bid to extend home worth addition to 30-35%, comparable with South Korea and Taiwan.
Hunt for Companions
Whereas pointers are awaited, the businesses have confirmed participation within the incentive scheme, and have already began searching for companions and investing in clean-room amenities, focusing on the beginning of manufacturing between FY26 and FY27.
Dixon Applied sciences shall be making an upfront funding of Rs 800-1,000 crore in FY26 for digital camera module and show meeting strains, with mechanicals attributable to begin from the fiscal 12 months after that, Dixon Applied sciences chairman and managing director Sunil Vachani advised ET.
Mechanics or mechanicals are parts that maintain the motherboard, central processing unit and different sub-assemblies collectively in electronics merchandise. Manufacturing these parts includes advanced engineering and requires high-tech machines.
“The success we now have achieved within the completed items manufacturing is just sustainable if we had this (scheme),” Vachani mentioned. “The business is sort of upbeat. At Dixon, we now have already introduced our plans for the show module and our intention to make digital camera modules.”
He added that Dixon additionally plans to get into mechanics. “The three sectors are being prioritised.”
For the remainder of the parts underneath the scheme, Dixon shall be working with a few of its medium and small-scale distributors to handhold them, assist them broaden capability and arrange world-class amenities, Vachani mentioned. He added that this would be the avenue via which smaller companies can enter the worldwide electronics worth chain.
Dixon has employed former LG government Ashish Priyadarshi to drive the initiative. “There shall be some issues we shall be doing on our personal, and a few issues we shall be working (on) with distributors, and a few even via acquisitions,” Vachani mentioned.
Micromax, which not too long ago entered right into a three way partnership with Chinese language authentic design producer Huaqin to assemble cell phones for manufacturers corresponding to Vivo and Oppo, is open to extra JVs with international companions in South Korea, Japan, Germany, China and Taiwan to accumulate abilities and applied sciences to make parts, co-founder Rahul Sharma advised ET.
Sharma goes after high-value parts, beginning with show meeting, which shall be introduced within the subsequent fiscal quarter.
“We’ll begin with show meeting first, after which go into making the modules,” he mentioned. “The glass, which isn’t being made right here, will come from exterior. We’ll make the bonding, on which there was a current responsibility lower.”
The show modules shall be provided to cell phone, laptop computer and automotive firms.
Micromax shall be investing Rs 1,000 crore over the following three years to drive the sector. It’s additionally engaged on making mechanics and digital camera modules, and is within the last phases of closing a JV settlement. Sharma expects to make an official announcement by the tip of this 12 months.
“At the moment all mechanics used within the business are imported,” Sharma mentioned. “The mechanics which we’re aiming for usually are not only for cell phones, however may also be customised for different merchandise like wearables, laptops, and tablets. This will embody the casing together with the body requiring precision machining and miniaturisation.”
Optiemus Electronics, which manufactures wearables and telecom gear, has additionally confirmed its participation within the part scheme. Chairman Ashok Gupta advised ET that the corporate has been engaged on securing the appropriate companions over the previous eight-nine months, and can begin manufacturing as quickly because it finds them.
“Participation is coming in all three sectors (show, digital camera and mechanics),” he mentioned. “However we are going to like to have the most effective expertise. We’re working to create an ecosystem of injection moulding, a device room, and paint jobs underneath mechanics. We’re already making the quilt glass with US-based Corning, and shall be shifting into making show assemblies too.”
The corporate plans to stagger investments, beginning small to service its inner electronics manufacturing enterprise, earlier than opening as much as the native ecosystem, and ultimately export to different international locations.
“Our focus shall be on scaling up, on high quality, and on value,” Gupta mentioned. “Within the first 12 months, we are going to do the expertise tie-up and arrange the amenities, and after that obtain an area financial system of scale, which is essential to drive down prices.”
Exports, nevertheless, will depend upon US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. The US, a significant importer of completed items, has imposed tariffs on China, which presently makes most of them.
Trade expects that the incentives underneath the scheme shall be sufficient to offset the price of making the parts in India with a purpose to compete with international locations like China and Vietnam on a worldwide scale.
“If the incremental value of producing a part in China is 9 cents, it’s 13 cents in Vietnam, and 65 cents in India,” Micromax’s Sharma mentioned, including that after the tariff imposition, Vietnam would be the one to compete with. The nation presently has a logistical benefit attributable to its shut proximity to China, and likewise has a free-trade settlement with the US, which makes it extra aggressive.
The federal government is focusing on $500 billion price of manufacturing by 2030, using 6 million individuals, up from the present 3.5 million. The federal government expects investments of as much as Rs 60,000 crore leading to a turnover of over Rs 4.5 lakh crore and direct employment of 100,000 individuals underneath the scheme.