7 projects worth Rs 5.5K crore cleared under electronic parts scheme

The government has approved seven projects worth Rs 5,532 crore, out of 249 proposals received under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.

The minister said the production of electronics components from the approved projects was likely to reduce the import bill of around Rs 20,000 crore. “Seven plants under electronics components have been approved. In the coming days, many more projects will be approved. We expect these projects to reduce the import bill by around Rs 20,000 crore," Vaishnaw said.

He said proposals for the manufacturing of multi-layer printed circuit boards or motherboard base, camera modules, copper laminates, and polypropylene films (used in capacitors for consumer electronics) had been approved. Approvals have been granted for four projects from the Kaynes Group, and one project each from Syrma Group, Ascent Circuits of Amber Group, and SRF Limited. Kaynes' four projects at an investment of Rs 3,280 crore comprise the production of multi-layer PCBs worth Rs 4,300 crore, camera module sub-assembly worth Rs 12,630 crore and HDI (high-density interconnect) PCBs worth Rs 6,875 crore.

The Ascent Circuits project, entailing Rs 991 crore investment, is likely to produce multi-layer PCB worth Rs 7,847 crore, Syrma Strategic Electronics' Rs 765 crore investment would make multi-layer PCB worth Rs 6,933 crore, and SRF Limited's investment proposal of Rs 496 crore is estimated to produce polypropylene film worth Rs 1,311 crore.

This is the first time camera modules will be made in India without the support of a foreign technology partner.

These modules can be used in smartphones, tablets, laptops, CCTV, etc. Vaishnaw said the PCB projects approved in the initial phase would meet 27 per cent of the total domestic demand and 15 per cent of the camera modules requirement. He said first copper laminates used in capacitors would be made in India, and they would meet 100 per cent of the domestic demand.