India is a big platform for hardware manufacturing in India. And above all the Government’s approval to set up electronics clusters will stimulate the whole scenario, said Mr. Ajai Chowdhry, HCL co-founder and chairman of the Government’s task force on information technology and electronics.
We have a large consumer base in our country and we could provide good opportunities for the hardware manufacturers in India. Our main foucus in the country has always been services and we we somewhere lack in providing manufacturing space, but is never too late, he said.
He said now is the time when manufacturing space should be our top priority, as the Governement has also approved the report of the Information Technology Task Force on implementing some of the processes.
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology had constituted the Task Force in August 2009 under the leadership of Mr Chowdhry.
First steps
“One of the first steps has been setting up of semi-conductor facilities that the Government is in final stages of taking a decision — on companies and which technology to start with it,” he said.
Manufacturing of computers and mobile handsets could benefit from this scheme since it will make available components locally. Currently, companies are importing components from China and Taiwan.
“Apple is one example. It designs in America, gets it manufactured in China; but all of its profits, intellectual property and value additions are in the US. That is exactly what we should do,” he said.
Mr Chowdhry, who stepped down as Director, HCL Infosystems on June 30, said he would continue to support the company as a mentor.
