-
Ultimately, India is not converging toward a single Asian operating model
-
It is shaping its own
-
Suppliers who succeed are those who invest patiently in relationships, bring validated system solutions, commit to lifecycle support and stay the course through early friction
-
India does not reward haste. It rewards resolve
For many electronics component suppliers across Asia, India is no longer an unknown destination. Sales visits are frequent, distributors are appointed and agreements are signed. Yet a familiar frustration often follows: progress feels slower than anticipated, engagements lose momentum and partnerships fail to mature.
The easy conclusion is that India is a difficult, price-driven market. In reality, the problem lies less with India and more with how it is being misread, reported asiatimes.com in an article written by RD Pai, who is a Singapore-based industry adviser and founder of Focalpoint Consultants.
India today does not fit the traditional Asian electronics engagement model built around speed, export-led volumes and rapid margin scaling. Instead, it is emerging as a demand-led system market, where growth is cumulative rather than accelerated. Domestic electronics production has crossed an estimated $120 billion annually, powered by sectors such as automotive and electric vehicles, smart metering, renewable energy systems, telecom infrastructure, white goods and industrial automation. This is not an early-stage ecosystem, nor merely a manufacturing base—it is a complex market shaped by long-term system requirements.
-
One of the most common misconceptions is that India’s decision-making is slow. In practice, decisions are layered, not delayed
-
Authority is spread across engineering, procurement, manufacturing and system ownership, reflecting the high cost of failure in large-scale deployments
-
Alignment takes time, but once achieved, it tends to be durable
-
Indian design teams also face the challenge of legacy component choices, some of which no longer align with evolving performance and reliability needs
-
Those that periodically reassess their component baselines often shorten future qualification cycles and strengthen system resilience
Another persistent myth is that India is fundamentally a low-price electronics market. Bills of materials across automotive electronics, industrial systems, power electronics and smart infrastructure reveal that critical positions are already held by Tier 1 global suppliers. Components are selected not for being cheapest, but for proven performance, qualification depth, lifecycle support and supply continuity. Price matters, but availability, reliability and long-term stability matter more.
A further gap lies in design engagement. Many suppliers enter India with strong components but limited system-level context, expecting customers to shoulder integration risk. Increasingly, Indian OEMs and EMS players value proven reference designs—platforms already validated in other Asian markets. Such system-level references reduce uncertainty, accelerate alignment and compress time to market, especially in early, low-volume phases where credibility is first established.
Sales structure also plays a critical role. Fragmented, multi-team approaches often undermine trust in what is essentially an account-driven, design-registration-focused market. Clear ownership, disciplined engagement and consistent local representation—models long adopted by Western suppliers—tend to work far better in India.
