Electronic Industries Association of India (Elcina) is setting up an electronics hardware manufacturing cluster (ESDM cluster) in Sri City, south India’s largest integrated business city consisting of a special economic zone, domestic tariff zone and a free trade warehousing zone.
Sri City is in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.
Sri City and Elcina signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard on Thursday. This will enable the association members and other electronics manufacturers to set up facilities to address the domestic and export market. The ESDM cluster would consist of manufacturing units, mainly producing electronic components and parts.
In addition to modern support facilities and infrastructure, the cluster will house a common facility testing centre as well as facilities for training workers. Sri City will provide 50 acres of land for the cluster in Phase I and subject to demand, an additional 50 acres in Phase II.
“We are convinced that this cluster in Sri City will enable manufacturers to establish globally competitive facilities, expand manufacturing and address the challenge thrown at us by surging imports,” Elcina president, T Vasu, said.
According to Sri City managing director Ravindra Sannareddy, the current electronic hardware market in India is $75-80 billion, of which 60 per cent is imported. Hence, there is a huge opportunity for India to become an electronic hardware manufacturing hub. Sensing this opportunity, Sri City had tied up with Elcina to jointly work towards developing the ESDM cluster.
“Sri City has a ready mix of infrastructure, educational institutions, hospitals and logistics, which made it a natural choice for us to sign the MoU. These facilities will enable manufacturers to start operations with a short lead time,” Elcina secretary general, Rajoo Goel, said.
