There was slow down in world economy before corona. Many countries were facing recession. India was facing same, Auto, Service & Production sector were on record low. Companies fired their employees.
Amidst of this slow down Government of India did many reforms for auto and manufacturing sector. We were hoping for good time but Corona virus (Originated in Wuhan city of China) spread all over the world.
World is facing now a huge recession and economic slowdown. Exponential growth in medical expenses to survive against Wuhan virus created financial imbalance. Everyone was aware about the change in world order.
In the time of pandemic China tried to suppress many countries like Australia, Japan, Vietnam Cambodia. China supplied worst class of PPE Kits, Mask and Ventilators to the procuring countries.
In the beginning of June Arm wing of Chinese Communist party entered in buffer zone of LAC after several talks and meetings soldiers of Chinese communist Army back stabbed soldiers of Indian Army & we lose our Braveheart’s in this faceoff. Later our brave Soldiers took Revenge of back stabbing.
Because of this a strong anti-China sentiment was developed in citizens across the nation. Government of India announced package of 20lakh crore for self-reliant India to enhance production capabilities and manufacturing in India. On 11 Aug 2020 Economic Times reported- Smooth selling for Chinese cell phone brands, clock double sales growth during Amazon, Flipkart events.
Here is statement given by Chinese brands.
One Plus- Newly launched Nord smartphone was the biggest selling handset during Amazon prime. Price of it lies in between 28K-30K.
Realme- Realme expects to have done more than 400cr of business by GMV during sale events.
Xiomi- Xiomi claims to have sold out it’s models in seconds.
Ecommerce companies and market expert said – Some popular models across brands were out of stock. Sales of Chinese brands also high in offline stores.
In Apr-Jun share of Chinese brands fall to 72% from 81% in Jun-Mar (Source-Study IQ).
Chinese brands claim that because of supply issues their production was low otherwise there was huge opportunity for business. Hold up of components and raw material on custom was the main reason for low production.
Here Question arises why did anti-China sentiments didn’t work against the Chinese brand’s?
From the information of open sources available on internet we can find out that Made in India Mobile phones are dependent on import of components from foreign nations. 85% components are imported from foreign nations. China and Taiwan are two countries who leads the world for raw material and components of electronic devices cost.
Let’s discuss about the primary components their cost, availability in India’s local market.
- Charger/Adapter, Battery pack and wired headset- Total cost of these items in a low budget smartphone is 600 and availability of these products in local market is high. Only Lithium ions are imported for assembly of battery pack, but cables, capacitors for chargers can be found locally.
- Mechanics & Die cut parts, Microprocessors, microphone, receiver, keypad, USB cable, PCBA (printed circuit board assembly), Camera, Module connectors- Total cost of these items for low budget smartphone is 6900 & their availability in local market is moderate. Some parts like USB cable, Keypad, Receiver can be found moderately. Reason behind moderate and non-availability is- Die cutting require expensive machinery, PCBs require high efficiency and expensive machinery, cleanroom, skilled manpower & high quality of design.
- Display assembly, touch panel, cover glass, vibrator, ringer, sensors- These products are hardly available we can’t find any Indian manufacturer of these products the only reason is high precision, non- availability of raw material.
Microprocessor or chip is heart of any mobile it controls the speed and computation in computing device, microprocessor is assembly of small ICs (Integrated circuit). Production of chip or microprocessor require highly efficient clean room, skilled manpower and availability of raw material and huge investment in Research & development.
Taiwan & China lead the world in making of microprocessors which are packed with billions of electronic components through a procedure called semiconductor wafer fabrication, it is a multi-step process that involves making circuits on a wafer made up of silicon. The best measure of manufacturing microprocessor is to keep its size small. I phone11 series built on 7nm chip manufactured by Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company (TSMC) is apple’s primary contractor which produces these chips in China. It is the world’s most valuable semiconductor company. Semiconductor company QUALCOMM leads the cheapest in the android, it also uses facility of TSMC for production.
Story of India- Texas instruments, a leading global semiconductor design and manufacturing, was the first company to set up its design facility in 1985 in Bengaluru. ISRO has a semiconductor facility in Mohali but it is for the internal use and relies on import for components & spares, size of microprocessor developed by ISRO is of 18nm.
Why India is lagging in Microprocessor manufacturing?
Manufacturing of Microprocessor is pricy business, it is very expensive. TSMC spent almost 10bn USD in 2010 for research & Development where they manufactured 28nm chips but now it’s outdated. A fab (facility where companies manufacture chips) to be rolled every couple of years. South Korea’s electronic Gian Samsung spent 14.3 USD to set up a new fab the 3nm chip will cost 20bn USD. This is the simple reason why trillion-dollar company like Apple relies on TSMC for its needs of microprocessor.
Most of Android smartphones use Android stock Operating system developed by google. But mobile manufacturing companies overlap a skin on Android Stock for better UI like MIUI, RealmeUI.
China have developed software skin, microprocessor industry, hardware industry for mobile phone, most of its companies did contract manufacturing for the companies of other countries across the world. Chinese companies have a developed market and customer satisfaction by their service, their companies acquire imported components in bulk it also reduces their cost.
Indian technology giants like DRDO, BEL,CDAC,Reliance,Mahindra,Tata,Infosys have to collaborate with other companies and have to develop their fab and Lab to develop basic software’s and hardware’s to compete with world market. It will be fruitful to make India Self-reliant, Government of India promoting manufacturing of electronics’ through its new policy also providing incentives and relaxation to the companies who are opening their manufacturing facility in India.
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