Yogesh Gole
Aurangabad, June 29: Aurangabad has emerged as a major automobile, liquor and pharmaceutical industries destination but when it comes to electronics industry, it is still struggling.
Barring some major industries like Dhoot Transmission, CTR, the city has a very small base of 25 to 30 industries working in basic electronics field, mostly doing assembling work and very insignificant number indulging in manufacturing. The number of units rises to 50 if one includes information technology and automation industries. Electronics industry representatives here assert that Aurangabad can witness growth in the next 5 to 10 years if Auric, DMIC gets a major anchor project in the field of electronics.
Speaking to Lokmat Times, chairman of the proposed Deogiri Electronics Cluster (DEC) Suresh Todkar claimed that the city electronics and automation industry can grow to size of Rs 500 crore provided we have a good anchor unit. “The existing vendors should also look for developing their own products in the arenas like medical technology, defence electronics and automotive electronics for the growth to happen,” he added.
According to another director of DEC Dr Vinayak Deolankar, the combined turnover of basic electronic industries in Aurangabad, which provide services, products to sectors like defence, communication, automobile, consumer electronics, appliances, health, motor control and lighting industries, is in the range of Rs 100 crore. The figure rises to Rs 200 crore if we add IT, automation and other electronic-related companies.
Decline of electronics major Videocon has come as a setback to local electronics industry but still Aurangabad has good resources and ready manpower right from technicians to electronics engineers graduating from the local engineering colleges which can help in growth of electronics industries, Deolankar asserts.
Todkar maintains that except for some big cities like Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, electronics industry has not grown much even in India. “We do not manufacture chips, not even LEDs. Everything is brought from China. Now, we are feeling the pinch as products are not coming in time from that country,’’ he added. Deolankar echoed his views and said with Chinese products getting costlier, manufacturing of Integrated Circuits and Printed Circuit Boards will pick up in India.
Deolankar also feels that a major project in the field of medical equipment, automation or domestic appliances can change the scenario in Aurangabad. Signing off, the duo hoped that the collective efforts made through the DEC will prove helpful to them charting future course.
Jobs in field of designing
Electronics engineering stream is losing shine due to lack of job opportunities. “Basically, people are needed for circuit designing and assembling. There is no death of jobs, if students go for designing products and circuits,’’ Deolankar said.