ACE industry urges government to propel growth in domestic manufacturing

Industry experts here voiced their opinions on policy changes, and shared their recommendations to propel growth within the segment. 

The occasion was attended by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Dr. Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Sandeep Ladda, Technology Leader PwC along with Manish Sharma, President, CEAMA, Sunil Vachani, Vice President, North CEAMA, Kamal Nandi, Vice President, West, CEAMA and other CEAMA dignitaries.

Additionally, in association with PwC, CEAMA unveiled a detailed report on ‘Championing Change in the Indian Appliance & Consumer Electronics (ACE) Industry’.

With an anticipated CAGR of only 9%, PwC findings stated that manufacturing disabilities and a limited component ecosystem are root causes of low cumulative value addition. The large population and steep GDP growth over next 5 years will be the key driver for Indian economic pyramid shift towards the top.

The report also went onto illustrate government of India’s push to promote electronics manufacturing in order to achieve net zero imports, and placing the ACE industry at the forefront of digital India program.

This push has resulted in an increase in domestic manufacturing from INR 55,765 crore during 2015 – 16 to INR 64,752 crore during 2016 – 17.

Sharing his views, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said: “The appliance and consumer electronics (ACE) sector offers immense growth opportunities, not only in terms of consumption but also manufacturing and job creation. They have been one of the forthcoming industries who have successfully aligned their business strategies to various government led initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ and ‘Digital India’. The policy led initiatives proposed by the government have been specifically designed to aid the small and medium enterprises. CEAMA has given these SME’s a platform to voice their opinion and become more included in government led policy and growth discussions”.

Sharing his views on this occasion Manish Sharma - President of CEAMA, said: “CEAMA was established with the sole objective to address the emerging issues of the Appliances and Consumer Electronics industry (ACE), and evaluate and advocate alignment with government policies. The aim behind releasing this report was to bring to the fore challenges faced by the industry in the current environment, and the policy framework needed to support the continuously evolving business ecosystem especially local manufacturing. The consumer durable industry creates 3 indirect jobs for every direct job, thus it needs to work closely with the government on further improving the local manufacturing framework to generate more employable labour”.

Additionally a panel discussion was held to discuss the importance of  enablers such as large scale demand generation for made in India products, cost competitiveness to make in India and easier to make in India policies to further empower the growth capacity of durable industry.

The panel comprised of industry stalwarts Manish Sharma, President and CEO Panasonic India,  Ajay Taneja, MD, Shriram Pistons and Rings LTD,  Hariom Rai, Co-founder and Director LAVA International and  Sunil Vachani, Chairman, Dixon Technologies. The session was moderated by Sankalpa Bhattacharjya, Partner PwC.

Commemorating 38 glorious years of the ACE industry, CEAMA also felicitated its industry members for their outstanding contribution to the durable industry in India.

Ki Wan Kim, MD, LG India received the ‘Man of Electronics Award’ for his excellent service of over 35 years to LG, during the course of which he transformed the company into one of the most recognized brands in the country.

Eric Braganza, President, Haier India was awarded the ‘Man of Appliances Award’ for his excellent mentorship and leadership skills and steered Haier India to new heights.