From Aspiration to Acceleration: How IEMI Reflects India’s Electronics Growth

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

In 2022, the Global Electronics Association’s team in India launched Integrated Electronics Manufacturing & Interconnections (IEMI) as a humble yet aspirational vision for India to become a vital community connector between global supply chains and regional electronics manufacturing ecosystems.

Fast forward to January 2026, and a lot has certainly happened in the macro-sense within four lightning quick years:

• India’s electronics manufacturing market has grown from $90 billion to $150 billion
• Narendra Modi’s government continues to implement numerous production-linked incentive programs that will enable the market to grow to nearly $500 billion by 2031
• Electronics has become a core pillar of India’s industrial growth transformation as evidenced by the fact that it has risen from seventh place to second place in the country’s export rankings
• The country has become the world’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer, which has facilitated massive job growth, especially among previously disenfranchised demographics, and supplies nearly 100% of the domestic market’s demand
• Additional investments by the government to bolster supply chain resiliency by producing domestically manufactured semiconductors has led to the first fabs coming online with a target of $100B by 2031

Against this immense backdrop of progress, the fourth edition of IEMI, held in Bangalore on Jan. 29–30, was attended by 1,600 delegates, including 100 from 15 countries outside India representing Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, and Australia.  

The audience was treated to two very different days of diverse topics, but they reflected India’s priorities, namely, high volume consumer electronics and strategic industries like aerospace and automotive. 

Day one focused on mobile phones and electric vehicles. The big takeaway was that being an exporter requires a strong commitment and accountability to quality. The keynote addresses and panel discussions embraced strengthening workforce capability and enhancing manufacturing processes to counter reliability and traceability challenges. Themes like automation and compliance were certainly on the minds of the attendees.

Day two focused on defense and aerospace. The big takeaway was the strong push to strengthen supply chain resilience by bolstering domestic production of critical technologies. The highlight was an MoU signing between the Ministry of Defence’s Directorate General of Quality Assurance and the Global Electronics Association to support standards, training, and certification that will enable domestic production of PCBs for national security. 

The growth in IEMI absolutely mirrors the growth in India: a developing nation quickly transforming into a global economic powerhouse matched with an industry association ready and able to help lead and guide the next phase of growth for the value chain.

If I created a 10-item word cloud that captures the energy and exuberance of the event, it would include: scale, acceleration, collaboration, innovation, upskilling, accountability, platform, resilience, defence, and mobility.

Note: This originally appeared as a Global Electronics Association blog post.

Read the official press release from the Global Electronics Association here.