With over two decades of experience in Indian semiconductor and electronics industry, Vinay Shenoy, vice president and managing director, Infineon Technologies India Pvt Ltd, has witnessed the transformation in this sector since its nascent stages. Being associated with the India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) as the vice-chairman for 2014-15, he has now taken over the role of chairman for 2015-16. In an interaction with Shweta Sengar, Shenoy shares valuable insights, and his vision and mission for IESA as he takes up the new role
EB: Now that you join as the chairman of IESA, what are your immediate goals?
A: In line with the country’s goals and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’, IESA is working towards realisation of these objectives. We, as an organisation, have a very critical role to play. We play an advisory role to the government, who is the policy maker, on the most optimal way to deploy and implement a policy. Government has formulated quite an attractive policies. We are now at a stage to operationalise these policies and present them before various industry members who can, in turn, derive benefits out of them.
EB: What steps are you taking towards building a sustainable ESDM ecosystem?
A: For a sustainable ESDM ecosystem, our approach is multi-dimensional. Manufacturing is essential with regards to the whole ESDM industry. We do not see India as a low-cost manufacturing hub like other nations. We have a strong pedigree in manufacturing, engineering and innovation. Going forward, IESA’s objective is to lay emphasis on innovation and manufacturing in India. All our initiatives will be directed towards attracting multi-national companies (MNCs) in the country and also using their existing R&D base in India to leverage manufacturing. Promotion of start-ups is another area of focus. We plan to work closely with the government, to aid the investor community, and ensure adequate funding is made available for technology start-ups. In recent times, telecom and technology-based start-ups have received adequate funding. We are now beginning to tie up with investors to ensure that there is a decent flow of funds from the government. DeitY has made available some funds like the Electronics Development Fund (EDF) for the benefit of the electronics community. Moreover, incubations are being set up like one in Bengaluru. This shows that the the government is working hard to build a fortified manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
EB: What’s your take on the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’ campaign? How is IESA moving on these lines?
A: We are an integral part of ‘Make in India’ and it is not just about manufacturing but also innovation and engineering. We are aiding the government to build strong R&D facilities in the country along with the third party R&D service capabilities. We are exploring what role our members can play individually in this regard. We are working towards building ‘100 smart cities’ in the country, moving ahead with ‘smart homes’, ‘smart power’, ‘smart transportation’ and ‘smart healthcare’. All these projects require sensors and controlling mechanism, which in turn deals with electronics. A ‘smart city’ does not solely deal with IT but as the basic infrastructure it is purely dependant on electronics.
Full interview to be published in the June issue of Electronics Bazaar, a B2B magazine for electronics. For subscription details, write to [email protected]
