Design, IP key to India's factory future: Dixon's Atul Lall at BS Manthan

From a ₹49 lakh crisis-born firm to a ₹65,000 crore giant, Dixon's MD & CEO maps India's electronics leap, AI-led factories, global ambitions, and the long road to owning IP

Can India truly become a global electronics powerhouse? And what will it take to move from assembling devices to owning intellectual property? At Business Standard’s BS Manthan summit, Atul Lall, MD & CEO of Dixon Technologies, said India has reached an inflection point in electronics manufacturing, but the real leap now lies in deepening value addition, building specialised talent, embracing AI and ultimately owning IP.

 

Lall, in the fireside chat on “Industry 5.0: Scaling up India’s factories”, said, “Every crisis creates an opportunity. That’s how Dixon was born.”

 

From crisis to scale

 

Lall shared about Dixon’s origins with the turbulent phase in India’s economic history. The company began with a modest capital base of ₹49 lakh, at a time when outsourcing and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) were not even part of mainstream business vocabulary in India.

 

 

Back then, manufacturing did not enjoy policy backing. “The flavour of the day was IT services. The focus was on buy, not make,” he said, recalling a time when global supply chains were expected to dominate and domestic electronics production had limited headroom.

 

“We feel we have just scratched the surface. In our industry parlance, this is the real ‘why buy’ moment for electronics manufacturing. We are at an inflection point,” Lall said.

 

Is global competition a threat?

 

With Apple, Samsung and other multinational giants expanding their footprint in India, the natural question is whether homegrown EMS players feel the pressure.

 

“For any industry to take off, it requires flag-bearers,” he said, drawing a parallel with the transformation of India’s auto sector. “Any industry, more than the financial matrix, is about the acquisition of capability. That’s what Apple brings to the table,” Lall said.

 

In mobile phones alone, India is a 150-million-unit market, of which Android accounts for about 130–135 million units. Dixon’s capacity stands at around 60–65 million units.

 

Why ‘owning IP’ is the next leap

 

Lall said that India needs engineers skilled in precision engineering, thermal management, optics, tools and dies, and advanced electronics. “We need at least 100-200 such engineers coming out every year,” he said.

 

Industry must work with academia to design curricula, train faculty and create centres of excellence. Career pathways must also be attractive. “If a fresher joins at ₹20–25 lakh, in five to six years they should see a path to ₹80–90 lakh.”

 

“It’s a journey,” he said, adding that both government and industry must do more.

 

Where is Dixon expanding next?

 

From Noida and Greater Noida to Uttarakhand, Tirupati, Sri City and Chennai, Dixon’s footprint reflects a mix of fiscal incentives, port access, logistics and talent availability.

 

The company is now evaluating Madhya Pradesh, particularly Gwalior, for telecom manufacturing. The region’s expressway connectivity and engineering college ecosystem make it a viable option.

 

What does industry want from government?

 

Lall credited schemes such as the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (MSIPS), the Phased Manufacturing Programme, PLI and ISM 1.0 for driving growth.

 

Looking ahead, he suggested that continued support for two to three more years could help India push mobile manufacturing into global markets and deepen design-led capabilities.