Policy push to 'deep manufacturing'

India is pushing its electronics policy past assembly lines and deeper into parts, materials and factory equipment under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme. (pib.gov.in) The Union Cabinet approved the scheme on March 28, 2025 with a budget of ₹22,919 crore, targeting ₹59,350 crore of investment, ₹4,56,500 crore of production and 91,600 direct jobs. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology notified it on April 8, 2025, and launched the guidelines and application portal on April 26, 2025. (pib.gov.in) (meity.gov.in) (pib.gov.in) The scheme covers display and camera modules, printed circuit boards, lithium-ion cells for digital devices, surface-mount passive parts, capital goods and supply-chain inputs. The government says incentives are tied to production, investment and, in part, employment targets over a six-year scheme period with a one-year gestation window. (pib.gov.in) That marks a change from India’s earlier electronics push, which centered on finished products such as mobile phones, laptops and servers. At the April 26, 2025 launch, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the policy path had moved from finished goods to modules, then components, and now to materials used to make components. (pib.gov.in) Industry had been asking for exactly that shift. A Confederation of Indian Industry report published in June 2024 said India needed to move from import-dependent assembly to value-added component manufacturing, with component and sub-assembly demand projected to rise from $45.5 billion in 2023 to $240 billion by 2030. (indbiz.gov.in) The same report identified batteries, camera modules, mechanical parts, displays and printed circuit boards as priority gaps, and said India’s manufacturing costs were still 10% to 20% higher than China, Vietnam and Mexico. It also pointed to weak domestic design capacity and a thin raw-material ecosystem. (indbiz.gov.in) The latest approvals show where the policy is landing. On March 30, 2026, the ministry cleared 29 more applications under the fourth tranche of the scheme, with projected investment of ₹7,104 crore, projected production of ₹84,515 crore and 14,246 direct jobs, taking total approved applications to 75. (aninews.in) (ibef.org) Those approvals included India’s first rare-earth permanent magnet project using rare-earth oxides, plus new investments in display module sub-assemblies, relays, lithium-ion cells and capital goods. By the ministry’s count, approved investments had reached ₹61,671 crore against the original ₹59,350 crore target. (aninews.in) As the policy moves deeper into the supply chain, the compliance load rises with it. IndiaLaw LLP said the newer ECMS approvals point to stricter expectations around local sourcing, contract structure, intellectual property protection, in-house design and regulatory oversight for companies seeking incentives. (indialaw.in) The factory model is shifting too. A Confederation of Indian Industry manufacturing study released on December 28, 2024 said manufacturers were putting more emphasis on Internet of Things systems, artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, while still facing high costs, unclear returns and skills gaps. (cii.in) At its electronics summit in November 2024, the Confederation of Indian Industry also pressed for more domestic standards, more research and design work, and a broader component ecosystem that reaches beyond major cities. India’s electronics policy is now being built around those same parts of the stack: components, design, standards and the machinery that makes them. (cii.in)