Indian electronics sector will be the fastest growing market globally to touch $40 billion by 2010, according to an In-Stat study released recently.

The electronics market in India, estimated at $11.5 billion in 2004, will be the fastest growing electronics market worldwide over the next several years, it reported. The market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23%. The In-Stat report, ‘India Electronics Manufacturing: Can it Catch China ?’ covers the electronics industry in India and China, with special attention to comparing the two fast growing countries. The report includes forecasts for the two nations’ electronics industries, segmented by sector, through 2010, along with a look at some of the key players in these markets.

In-Stat found that the Indian electronics industry is driven
mainly by the computer and computer component sectors, but a large and growing middle class of 320 - 340million has disposable income for consumer goods. The main challenge for China’s electronics industry is to keep up with technology trends.

Though India’s total output will be far behind China’s electronics market, worth $271.97 billion in 2004, its promising market bears watching. “Major challenges facing the Indian electronics manufacturing market are an infrastructure that needs to be improved at the earliest possible, easing of foreign investment procedures, which is underway, and a restructured government tariff that now makes domestically manufactured goods more expensive than imported goods with zero tariff,” says In-Stat analyst Bryan Wang.