Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) India needs to develop better standards to push the domestic manufacturing of electronic products in line with international practices, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said Sunday.

CII said the trade of information technology and electronic products would increase, as the World Trade Organsiation (WTO) had eliminated all import duties on a wide range of items, but it also meant they would also come under increased scrutiny for quality.

“Under the WTO-ITA-I agreement, with tariffs being reduced to near zero, international electronic and electrical products trade would increasingly be subjected to higher technical regulations and conformance standards,” said CII.

“Already, the number of these regulations and standards has increased significantly in recent years, especially relating to consumer protection, national interest, quality, environment protection, and corporate social responsibility,” it added.

The lobby urged the government to revise regulations and ensure conformity of standards for developing the domestic information communication technology and electronics (ICTE)manufacturing sector.

“Standards, testing, labelling and certification requirements for quality are also rising. Electronics companies must conform to these standards or risk loss of business,” said CII.

Globally, the electronics industry is valued at about $1.75 trillion and is one of the largest and fastest growing manufacturing sectors in the world.

Electronics products are among the top three globally traded products with robust value chains linking factories across the world.

The ICTE sector in India has been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 16 percent in the last five years, but in comparison to global levels, its value at $26.6 billion remains considerably small.

About 60 percent of India’s demand for ICTE products is met through imports.

According to a report of the task force of department of information technology, ICTE production in the country could grow to $400 billion by 2020, including $80 billion of exports.

“There is need to develop and mandate conformance standards for locally manufactured as well as imported ICTE products in harmony with international practices and benchmarks. Offering incentives to companies to adopt such standards would help integrate Indian companies with the global supply chain,” added Inderdeep Singh, chairman, CII national committee on ICTE manufacturing.