India's electronics market to see fast growth

India's electronics market will be the fastest-growing electronics market worldwide over the next several years, In-Stat reported Wednesday.

In-Stat, a high-tech market research firm, said India's electronics market, now at 11.5 billion US dollars, is expected to grow at annual rate of 23 percent and reach 40 billion dollars in 2010.

Though its total output will be far behind China's electronics market, worth 271.97 billion dollars in 2004, India's promising market bears watching, the market research firm said.

In-Stat said the growth of Indian electronics industry will be driven mainly by the computer and computer component sectors.

It also noted that a large and growing Indian middle class of 320-340 million has disposable income for consumer goods, though about 25 percent of the Indian population lives below the poverty line.

"India's low manufacturing costs in skilled labor and raw materials, availability of engineering skills, and opportunity to meet demand in the populous Indian market, are driving its electronics market," In-Stat said.

The research firm found major challenges facing the Indian electronic manufacturing market are an infrastructure that needs to be improved at the earliest possibility, easing of foreign investment procedures, and a restructured government tariff that now makes domestically manufactured goods more expensive than imported goods with zero tariff.

Source: Xinhua