Make (more) in India: India switches to factory settings for niche electronics

Time of India

2 days ago

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Kolkata: After iPhones, smart televisions and microwave ovens, India is now scaling up manufacturing of more niche electronic products such as robotic vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, built-in refrigerators and air fryers, which, till recently, were fully imported.The development, according to industry executives, is driven by the government's expanding list of electronic products whose factories need certification under the quality control orders (QCO) of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) that are meant to control imports from China and other places, as well as promote local production. Most of these specialised products have come under QCO in the past eight to nine months. Till recently, most consumer goods firms argued that the market size for these categories was so small that local production did not make sense.'BIS norms have been a big trigger, with more and more brands — including premium ones — exploring local production for small appliances despite small market size,' said Atul Lall, managing director of Dixon Technologies . 'It's a nice business opportunity.' Earlier this week, Dixon signed an agreement with Eureka Forbes to manufacture robotic vacuum cleaners, a category with a market size of just about Rs 700 crore.Dixon is the largest home-grown electronics contract manufacturer. Europe's Liebherr has set up a plant for built-in customised refrigerators in Aurangabad, with production commencing in April, despite domestic annual sales of only 14,000-15,000 units.Kapil Agarwal, India managing director (sales) at Liebherr Appliances, said that implementation of the BIS norms for refrigerators from this year served as a wake-up call to set up a factory locally, further aided by the premiumisation wave. 'We were importing from Germany but getting the factory certified is a tedious process. We also believe the market will grow to 1 lakh units in five years.So a local plant made a business case and will reduce import lead time,' he said. Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals ' annual report said it will prioritise local sourcing this fiscal. Havells India said in its annual report it will further support localisation of products to reduce import dependence, from about 8% of its total sourcing in the previous financial year, having scaled it down from around 15% of total sourcing in FY24.Implementation of QCOs has opened up more attractive categories, according to Ajay Singhania, MD of contract manufacturer Epack Durable, while the business for more mature categories such as mixer grinders has been either flat or growing at a nominal rate of 3-4% annually. The opportunity includes 72 categories, such as air fryers, electric kettles and hair dryers, most of which were earlier fully imported, he said. 'We are taking a lead in localising these categories and meeting the requirements of most of the marquee customers,' he told analysts last month.Several firms imported these products in bulk in the past few months before the QCO came into effect.Industry executives said that while the market size may be small for standalone categories, it's altogether a business opportunity of more than Rs 12,000-13,000 crore. To put it in perspective, the market size of air-conditioners alone is more than Rs 40,000 crore and that of smartphones is more than Rs 1.5 lakh crore.Another leading contract manufacturer, PG Electroplast , began small appliance production seven to eight years ago, but had to discontinue it as the opportunity was very small at the time, said its managing director (operations) Vikas Gupta. 'But with the BIS norms, we are now relooking at it as a lot of brands are approaching us,' he said.The government has, over the past few years, expanded the compulsory BIS QCO certification to products such ACs, washing machines, refrigerators, ceiling fans, plugs, switches and cables, and very few overseas factories have received the BIS certification.