Together, these trends suggest that India’s electronics story is moving decisively from aspiration to architecture—anchored by demand, reinforced by engineering, and increasingly embedded in global supply chains
India’s electronics narrative is often told through incentives, factory announcements or ambitious semiconductor plans. Yet the more consequential transformation unfolding today is quieter and structural. The country is entering a “Second Wave” of electronics and hardware manufacturing—one driven not merely by policy intent, but by sustained domestic demand, deeper engineering involvement, and the gradual consolidation of a full-fledged ecosystem.
For Asian suppliers, investors and policymakers, this shift is significant because electronics supply chains ultimately organize around demand gravity. Where demand is large, predictable and increasingly design-led, manufacturing capacity, component localization and supplier investments tend to follow. India is now beginning to display these characteristics at scale.
What sets the current phase apart is not just rising electronics consumption, but the nature of that demand. Several infrastructure-linked and industrial segments—power, mobility, energy, appliances and telecom—are scaling simultaneously. These sectors are defined by long product lifecycles, stringent reliability requirements and continuous engineering engagement, creating stable, design-led demand rather than short consumer upgrade cycles.
Power distribution offers a clear illustration. India is undertaking one of the world’s largest grid modernization programs through the national smart metering initiative, which could see hundreds of millions of prepaid meters deployed over the coming years. Such programs generate sustained demand for microcontrollers, communication modules, metrology ICs, power electronics, relays, connectors and high-reliability passive components. They also enable domestic firms like Genus Power and Secure Meters to build system-level capabilities.
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Similar dynamics are visible in telecom and digital infrastructure
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Network expansion and modernization are driving demand for radios, power systems and network electronics, with domestic players such as Tejas Networks and operators like Reliance Jio anchoring long-term, design-led requirements alongside global suppliers
Asia’s electronics history consistently shows that ecosystems mature around engineering density and sustained demand, not policy announcements alone. India’s Second Wave reflects this logic. Domestic and multinational OEMs are moving beyond basic assembly toward localization of control boards, firmware, power modules and testing. Indian engineering teams increasingly influence component selection and system architecture, even when core silicon remains globally sourced. Competition is shifting from procurement-led buying to design-in collaboration, reliability and lifecycle support.
This transition is the cumulative result of policy continuity over more than a decade. Initiatives such as Make in India and Digital India expanded digital infrastructure and stabilized demand, while programs like EESL’s LED rollout demonstrated how aggregated demand could catalyze domestic manufacturing. More recent schemes, including PLI and DLI, along with large deployments in railways and renewable energy, have reinforced this foundation.
The results are visible. India’s electronics production now exceeds $120 billion annually, up from low double-digit billions in the mid-2010s, while exports have grown into the tens of billions. Smartphones provided early scale, but the capabilities built—tooling, testing, quality systems and skilled manpower—are now spilling into industrial, automotive and strategic electronics.
Perhaps the strongest signal of the Second Wave is ecosystem depth. EMS providers are expanding into system integration, testing and reliability qualification. PCB manufacturing, long a weak link, is seeing renewed investment in multi-layer and industrial-grade boards. Companies such as Syrma SGS and Kaynes Technology are strengthening PCB and system-level capabilities, while supporting segments like tooling, certification, harnesses and magnetics are emerging in parallel.
