New Delhi, September 14, 2023. EPIC Foundation, a not-for-profit organization founded by industry veterans and Cofounders of HCL Dr.Ajai Chowdhry and Arjun Malhotra with an aim to revive India Electronics Industry by creating Indian Products and Indian Brands for Electronics Products of national importance, has revealed its vision to transform India into an Electronic Hardware Product Nation. The foundation believes that India, with its skilled workforce and competitive wages, has the potential to become a leading design and manufacturing destination, contributing to India's US $400bn Electronics industry. The foundation also signed an MOU with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) and is presently in advanced discussions with several other academic institutions, with an aim to develop distinct “Designed in India” products catering to 1.4 billion Indians.
As part of this vision, EPIC Foundation announced the launch of two products:
- An LED Driver chip designed by a Bengaluru startup, set to replace a Chinese chip.
- The first 100% Designed in India Tablet for education and social empowerment, featuring reparability and upgradability not found in imported tablets.
Additionally, EPIC Foundation signed an MOU with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) and is in advanced discussions with academic institutions to develop “Designed in India" products for the Indian market. The MOU with KDEM was signed by Dr.Ajai Chowdhry and Shri BV Naidu, Chairman, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission. EPIC Foundation also entered into an MOU with the Andhra Pradesh Electronics and IT Agency (APEITA) to strengthen the electronics sector in the state.
Dr Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman, EPIC Foundation and Member of the MeitY task force said, “Creating a robust design & manufacturing ecosystem requires tremendous amount of support from all stakeholders. EPIC Foundation aims to be the interface between Industry and State Government with MEITY, Niti Aayog DST and DPIIT to address key challenges and recalibrate the policies. Solidifying its commitment to move the nation up the value chain to be at the forefront of design, manufacturing and production, EPIC Foundation will work towards enabling critical Global Collaboration with Key ESDM regions like Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, Japan and the USA”.
Commenting on the MoU with KDEM, Chowdhry said, “KDEM is working on ESDM sector growth under the Beyond Bengaluru initiative which covers cities such as Mysore, Hubli, Belgaum, Mangalore, Shivamogga. They have start up incubators and accelerators. We will support these start ups with Technical mentoring, go-to-market strategies and help overcome operational issues and challenges.”
He further added “The highly skilled, young work force of India along with a favourable geopolitical environment present an opportune time for India to take the plunge into becoming a global hub for the electronics industry. We are continuously tapping into those opportunities and are looking at increasing design, manufacturing and production capacities. The launch of the two products today is just the beginning; we have a steady roadmap of developing and empowering 500 successful hardware product design companies by supporting them with financial assistance and funding, mentoring, certification and testing, manufacturing and market access”.
The announcements were made in the presence of key dignitaries, including Shri. Amitesh Sinha, Joint Secretary Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; Shri. BV Naidu, Chairman, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission; Mr. Sanjeev Gupta, CEO, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission; Mr. Mohandas Pai, Chairman Aarin Capital and Manipal Global Education; Mr. Sharad Sharma, Co-founder iSPIRIT; Mr. Amrit Manwani, CMD, Sahasra Group, and other industry, government, and academic leaders.
Shri. Amitesh Sinha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said, “The largest part of the value chain is product designing, is a concept where the design company has full control over the entire value chain including selection of materials, vendors for component manufacturing and finally selling of the product. The concept itself is very important. The increased demand for electronic hardware products is boosting the market size. Focussed government schemes on product manufacturing are being deployed. We have the right talent pool. Time has come to make India’s own products.”
He further added, “Government from its side is trying to create demand for products. That demand is coming in a different way. Telecom for instance is clearly an element of design. Similarly, PLI in IT Hardware 2.0 is an element of designing of a processor; and there are several other areas. Going forward, we will see a lot of policies which will support such initiatives. I wish EPIC Foundation that it should take this journey forward. Dr.AjaiChowdhry is known for his passion and is driving this initiative. I am hopeful he will come up with a framework to support this initiative.”
EPIC Foundation aims to support State Governments in implementing Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) policies. They have also initiated a 'Right to Repair' policy to ensure serviceability of products, supporting both product design companies and service providers.EPIC Foundation's strategic priorities include forming partnerships with technical institutes to foster innovation, policy advocacy with Central and State Governments to incentivize product development and manufacturing, and the implementation of the Preferential Market Access (PMA) Policy to boost market demand.
