MeitY approves setting up electronics manufacturing cluster in Karnataka’s Dharwad district

In response to a question from ET, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, said, “We approved the electronics cluster yesterday, which (already) has (recieved) investment of Rs. 350 crore from several companies, and will create around 18,000 jobs. It will have economic activity worth Rs. 1,500 crore to Rs. 2,000 crore.”

While Kolar has Wistron, Devanahalli will have Apple-Foxconn, and Hubbali-Dharwad will have an electronics manufacturing cluster, Karnataka will become one of the three big electronics hubs in India, the other two being Tamil Nadu and Noida. “These three states are principal electronics growth areas in India,” he said.

The targeted verticals in the cluster include industrial electronics, consumer electronics, solar manufacturing, e-mobility products and components, among others.

Chandrasekhar also launched the skill hub registration portal on Friday in the State with an aim to skill 15 lakh youngsters in Karnataka over the next three years, and 1.5 crore people across India.

The Centre has already approved a common facility centre for development of an advanced testing facility in Mysuru, Karnataka that will meet the various testing requirements of the industry.

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The electronics cluster will be spread over an area of 224.5 acres and set up at a cost of Rs. 179.14 crore out of which the Centre will provide an assistance of Rs. 89.57 crore and the rest will be provided by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board will be the project implementing agency which has been given two years for its implementation.The nine anchor units of the cluster include NanoPix Integrated Software, Ravismak Electronics, Physics Motors Technology, Astr Defense, Rapture Innovation Labs, Carbon Electronics, Neuorigami Automation India, Wide mobility Mechatronics, and Chemioptic Healthcare who have committed to invest Rs. 340 crore for a committed land allotment of 76 acres.

The Modified Electronics Manufacturing Cluster (EMC 2.0) scheme was introduced three years ago on April 1, 2020 with an objective to create infrastructure along with common testing facilities. This includes factory sheds, and plug and play infrastructure for attracting anchor units (along with their supply chain), to set up their manufacturing/production facilities in the country.

Under the scheme, three electronics manufacturing clusters over an area of 1,337 acres with project cost of Rs 1,903 crore, including central financial assistance of Rs 889 crore have been approved which projected investment target of Rs 20,910 crore.

Skilling

Through the skilling portal, the interested candidates will be skilled in 2D animation, additive manufacturing (3D printing), as drone service technicians, VFX editors, instrumentation technicians, production engineers, and industrial automation specialists, among others.

The government’s target group includes 49,679 government schools, 26,771 private schools, 20,192 engineering institutions, 42 medical colleges, 38 dental colleges and 248 polytechnic colleges.

There is a demand to skill 4.5 lakh candidates in FY 2023-24 as per the skill development ministry’s assessment.