The manufacturing policy initiated by the government is a big step forward but it doesn’t address the ‘resource’ issue. The financial resources and technology base are critical for any future growth

investment in component manufacturing in India when components are being manufactured in millions and billions of pieces right across the border in China and imported at zero duty? Just look at the number of mobiles that Nokia is making in India and the number of components it sources from India. Are colour TV manufacturers buying any active component from India? They may be buying a bit of PCBS but the rest of the components are all being imported. They are bringing components from China, Korea and Thailand. Also, why should a TV be manufactured in India when you can bring it from Thailand at zero duty? The industry is becoming sick with government policies. The government is allowing free trade of finished goods like TV under free trade agreement (FTA). It doesn’t want us to manufacture.”

Even the Tamil Nadu government’s order for distributing free TVS to people below the poverty line ultimately went to China. China supplied the semi-knocked-down (SKD) kits and the TVS were just assembled in India.

“We were probably the first and the last to manufacture semiconductors in India. We had been doing it for the last 42 years. It was in 1964 when we started the first silicon semiconductor factory in India. We have stopped it now and moved it to Hong Kong. We are exporting almost 40-50 per cent of the semiconductors manufactured at this facility to countries all over the world. The rest of the output is purchased by Indian companies, but none of the large players. Large Indian