It might seem ironic to some people that a nation that was repeatedly invaded, looted, raped, thrashed and looked upon with eyes brimming with pity and disdain has now become the world’s apple of an investor’s eye. The British crown left India drained, divided and destitute and took away more than 45 trillion dollars of wealth, at that point in time nobody had dreamed of this nation becoming one of the world leaders.
It is the results of India’s sheer desperation of marking its position in the world coupled with constant superlative serious efforts and a sharp, unwavering forward-looking approach, that this nation is now aiming to become a 5 trillion dollar economy and dare I say the aspirations are realistic. From less than 3 dollars as the per capita income at the time of its independence, India’s per capita income has grown to almost 2000 dollars. Seven decades back India was a supremely import-dependent country and today almost every global company is making in India and every Indian company is making its mark globally.
The correlation between the levels of economic development and technology development of a nation is remarkable. The technology policies of a nation are not merely the pursuit of keeping running on the tech trade mill for its own sake, but they inherently value creativity by nature and hence they push the economy of a nation further with leaps and bounds. India has been cognizant of this matter since it has seen the dawn of independence. 75 years later, India stands tall amongst the greatest.
The mere 75-year-old nation (75 years of independence from British colonization) is one of the largest consumers of electronics in the world, is recognized as the biggest hub for information technology, has been able to travel outer space most economically, and endlessly paving its path of innovation in technology and contributing to the world. The recent events have forced the global industry to swiftly move from China, they are eyeing setting up their units in India. From 5G to electric vehicles and now even semiconductor manufacturing to indigenous military weapons and aircraft, India has enabled itself to enter into the golden era AGAIN.
India witnessed a substantial spike in demand for electronic products in the last few years; this is mainly attributed to India’s position as the second-largest mobile phone manufacturer worldwide and the surge in internet penetration rate. The Government of India attributes high priority to electronics hardware manufacturing, as it is one of the crucial pillars of Make in India, Digital India and Start-up India programmes.
The Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector plays a vital role in the government’s goal of generating US$ 1 trillion of economic value from the digital economy by 2025. With various government initiatives aiming to boost domestic manufacturing, India has already started witnessing initial movement with increased production and assembly activities across products such as mobile phones and other consumer electronics. The Indian electronics manufacturing industry is projected to reach US$ 520 billion by 2025. The demand for electronic products is expected to rise to US$ 400 billion by 2025 from US$ 33 billion in FY20. The electronics system market is expected to witness 2.3x demand of its current size (FY19) to reach US$ 160 billion by FY25.
This is an era of renaissance and technology resurgence. With new vigour India might lead the world in every category, owing to the massive developments that are taking place today right before our eyes. Moreover, India has the youngest workforce in Asia and will hold that advantage until 2050. That’s pretty formidable.
