According to the union minister for electronics and information technology, India will save foreign exchange worth approximately Rs 400 billion annually by reducing its dependence on imported printed circuit boards (PCBs), which are now planned to be manufactured domestically.
The minister said the government expects Jewar in Uttar Pradesh to emerge as a major electronics manufacturing hub. The union minister and the Uttar Pradesh chief minister jointly laid the foundation stone for two projects in the upcoming electronics manufacturing cluster (EMC) located in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) industrial region near Noida.
Speaking at the event, the union minister said India is already the sixth-largest electronics exporter globally, with the government targeting the second position. He said the country is moving from assembly-based operations to deep manufacturing, noting that the advanced multi-layer PCBs being built at the new facilities, some with 20 to 22 layers, form the backbone of modern technology, and that products previously imported would now be made in India for global markets.
PCBs are considered the essential backbone of electronics, providing the physical foundation and electrical pathways that allow components to communicate with one another. The projects inaugurated include a Rs 32.50 billion joint venture between contract manufacturer Amber Enterprises and Korea Circuit Co. Ltd. to produce high-density interconnect PCBs, flexible PCBs and semiconductor substrates. A separate facility by Amber, spanning 100 acres and involving an investment of Rs 35 billion, will focus on room air conditioners, copper clad laminates and other critical components. Together, the two plants are expected to generate employment for around 3,000 people.
