India has potential to export motherboards worth upto Rs 8 lakh crore between 2021-26: Report

India has the potential to export motherboards worth upto Rs 8 lakh crore between 2021-26, states a joint report by mobile devices industry body ICEA and EY. However, it pointed out that in the absence of government incentives and subsidies, the export potential will be around Rs 29,500 crore.

Pankaj Mohindroo, India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) Chairman, highlighted that the government is required to realize the cumulative export potential of Rs 8 lakh crore by the year 2026. He said the current size of PCBA industry in India is about Rs 2 lakh crore, and it is expected to reach Rs 6.4 lakh crore during 2021-26. Mohindroo said they have requested for separate production linked incentives (PLIs) for PCBA. “The consumption of PCBA in India will be majorly driven by mobile devices,” he added.

“If support of four to six per cent on exports of PCBAs can be provided, by 2025-26, the cumulative PCBA export for India can be about US$ 109 billion,” the report said. “However, if no support is offered, the export is estimated to dwindle to US$4 billion.” Moreover, the National Policy on Electronics 2019 (NPE) envisages electronic manufacturing turnover of US$400 billion by 2025, out of which US$190 billion is expected to come from the mobile phone segment. The ICEA believes that IT hardware, laptop and tablet manufacturing, has potential to contribute over Rs 7 lakh crore to the NPE target and PCBA can add another Rs 8 lakh crore.

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“Standalone PCBA exports from India face cost disabilities against well-established manufacturing hubs, with large manufacturing capacities such as China and Vietnam,” the report said. “In addition, China offers various incentives for R&D activities, tax benefits on exported goods, policies to promote an export culture, significant investments across the value chain and technology transfer from global players.” It added that India’s exports of standalone PCBAs for mobile phones were US$0.15 billion in 2019-20 and are expected to be US$0.30 billion in 2020-21.