Making ‘Make in India’ a Reality

At present,‘Make in India’ is undoubtedly the sound echoing from across different corners of the country. It might be a distant dream yet, but the journey has definitely begun. With the objective of making this a reality in the Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) Industry, IESA the premier trade body representing ESDM hosted the 10th edition of IESA Vision Summit in Bangalore on 2nd and 3rd February 2015. The thrust of the summit was on addressing and resolving issues of manufacturers in ESDM space with the objective of bringing India to global leadership in electronics manufacturing. The event witnessed strong government participation with different state representatives including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka announcing support in strengthening the electronics design and manufacturing capabilities in their respective states.

With the objective of building a talent base that is a prerequisite to make the ‘Make in India’ dream a reality, IESA announced MOUs with ESSCI (Electronics Sector Skills Council of India), VTU (Visvesvaraya Technology University) and RV-VLSI Design center. The representatives opined that there is at this point a huge gap between industry and academia which needs to be filled. “Finally, India is growing as a nation, meant for design-led manufacturing. However, the success will hugely depend on the way India is going to sustain the opportunities for the ESDM companies,” commented, Dr.H. Maheshappa, Vice-Chancellor, Visvesvaraya Technological University. He remarked that this can only be possible if India can drive talent and human resources as per the international standard. Through these MOUs, IESA aims to bring out courses customized for the ESDM industry. “Lack of awareness about VLSI is what we see now. Through this MOU we want to address that,” said, Srinivas Venkatesh Prasad, CEO, RV-VLSI Design Center. When asked about the current talent gap in the industry, NK, Mohapatra, CEO, ESSCI (Electronics Sector Skills Council of India), said, “In absolute numbers there is no shortage, there is only problem of fitments.

The event also saw IESA announcing MOU with Singapore to reap in benefits of varied strengths and opportunities in their respective ESDM industries. This will provide Singapore companies the opportunity to shift some manpower intensive operations to competitive locations in India and Indian firms can in turn set up their operations in Singapore presenting a win-win situation for both countries.

As Indian start ups strive to attain their true potential, the panel discussion on Building the ESDM start-up ecosystem looked at the need for developing and nurturing an environment that supports the growth of new ventures in the ESDM space. “Ecosystem is extremely important. If we are dreaming of ESDM in India in a big way, then we need one mainstream application segment,” pointed out, Vivek Sharma, Vice President APAC-India Operation and Director India Design Centres, STMicroelectronics. He observed that industry and academia are right now working very differently. “The question is how can you make the young minds participate in the Make-in-India story,” he added. The session also highlighted that in line with the growth plans for the ESDM sector, Electropreneur Park, the first of its kind ESDM incubation center will be announced by the government of India, which will be put in practice by STPI (Software Technology Park of India) together with Delhi University and IESA, and CyberMedia India Limited which will support in the execution of the project. Around 50 start ups are to benefit from this project over a period of five years.