Industrial Automation Magazine India

The impact of Covid-19 on the Electronics industry has been positive

Published on : Wednesday 02-03-2022

Pankaj Poddar, Group CEO, Cosmo Ferrites, Cosmo Films, Cosmo Speciality Chemicals, and Zigly.
 

How big is the growth opportunity for soft ferrite products in India and globally?
With growing digitalisation, the export of soft ferrites will see a CAGR of 8-10% in the next few years. The Government recently outlined the $300 billion electronics production vision document in January which aims to make electronics India's third largest exports category expanding exports to $120 billion from the current $10.6 billion. This will also create growth opportunities in India for local consumption as well as exports. All schemes of the government like SPECs, PLI, etc., are a step towards this objective. Moreover China+1 Strategy of the World will create further opportunities for growth of Soft Ferrites.
 
What was the impact of the pandemic on the demand for soft ferrites? Has the market seen a turnaround since?
The impact of Covid-19 on the Electronics industry has been positive. This is since there is more Digitisation and growth of electronics globally including growth of IT hardware. Moreover, the China+1 Strategy is also benefiting India and there is good potential to scale up the overall Electronics manufacturing in India. The policies of the Government have also been favourable in this regard with various PLI and SPECS schemes announced by the Government. We have seen a favourable market since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
 
What are the major drivers of growth in this industry? How are the various policy initiatives to boost the electronic industry helping here?
There is significant potential for growth of Ferrites manufacturing in India with increasing localisation and push of the Government to make India an Electronics Hub. The Government with its various schemes of PLI, SPECS and other schemes has shown the intent to give Electronics manufacturing a major push. The World is also looking at a China+1 Strategy and India is in a sweet spot as far as Electronics manufacturing is concerned with the recent policy announcements to drive production of Electronics within the Country. We have already applied and got approval for both SPECS and PLI Scheme of the Government for our proposed expansion.
 
How big an opportunity is the EV and hybrid vehicles industry?
The global electric vehicle market was valued at US $163.01 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $823.75 billion by 2030. Faster adoption of EVs globally will create demand for Electronic component manufacturers like us. What we currently see is only the tip of the iceberg and there is accelerated growth expected in the coming 4-5 years globally due to EV growth.
 
Does India have enough capacity for soft ferrite production in view of the anticipated demand rise? 
The simple ferrite core is largely imported in the country while the specialised core is manufactured by Cosmo Ferrites and that is where we see the opportunity to scale up.
 
As a major player in the soft ferrites industry, what is the current production of Cosmo Ferrites? What are the expansion plans? 
Our current capacity is 2400 MT per annum and we are expanding this to 3600 MT per annum from Q1 of FY23. We continue to evaluate further expansion plans as we are optimistic on the overall growth of Electronics manufacturing within India.
 
How sustainable is the manufacturing process? What is the level of automation in the production facilities and quality control?
There is a lot of R&D involved in manufacturing Ferrites. This starts with manufacturing of the Ferrite powder which requires years of research to develop. We are backward integrated since the beginning for manufacturing of Powder unlike some of our competition. With expanding capacity we are further upgrading our manufacturing capability and also working on automation of some of our existing processes.
 
Can India compete with China for a larger share of the global market in soft ferrites?
With Government's policy to push electronics manufacturing and the urgency to create the complete eco system of electronic components, there is a very good possibility that India can compete with China and eye a larger share of the global market in Electronic components including Soft Ferrites.