Display demand in India likely to be $60 bn over next 5 years: ICEA

The Indian market demand for displays over the next five years is likely to be $60 billion, said a new report by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), in collaboration with Grantwood Technologies.

The domestic consumption of display components exceeded $5 billion in 2020 alone, which is expected to sharply rise over the next five years, and is estimated to be much greater than $10 billion in 2025, mainly resulting from the “Make-in-India” strategy to promote electronic manufacturing, said the report titled, “Flat Panel Displays – Creation of a Display Industry in India”.

The report highlights that India has steadily grown into a leading consumer market for display-centric products. However, India does not currently have a local display manufacturing industry and all display components have to be imported from overseas suppliers.

Unveiling the report during a virtual event today, Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY, said that he looks forward to the participation of the global key players in establishing the display fabs in India. “The policy framework and incentivization policy for this segment will also be worked upon,” said Sawhney.

“India currently consumes 7-8% of the global display production in India primarily for use in mobile, TV and IT hardware. With our current emphasis on electronic manufacturing in India and incentives to trigger this industrial sector, the demand for displays will increase multi-fold. There is no display fab in India today and this is the right time that we direct our focus towards building this strategic core industry in India,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.

Mohindroo further said that a coherent national policy is required to mobilize private sector companies to bring together capital and knowhow to establish state-of-the-art display fabs. “The national policy should extend government support towards providing financial incentives to display makers and display supply chain companies who agree to make substantial investments under the private-public partnerships,” he added. Mohindroo also invited the Indian corporates to come forward and put their weight behind to establish “this strategic industry” in India.

Globally, display was a $100 billion industry in 2020 and is projected to grow over $125 billion in revenues by 2024. The mobile phone and TV product segments account for greater than 65% of the industry revenues while notebooks, monitors, tablets, automotive and other applications account for the rest.

“Displays are the windows to the digital world of data. They make it possible for data to be visualized in a human readable form. The display component industry is greater than $100 billion in size and it has spawned substantially larger leveraged industries that manufacture and sell display-centric electronic products,” said Dr G. Rajeswaran, Director and CEO, Grantwood Technologies. “India has the market-pull for display-centric electronic products, it needs a plan to bring together capital and knowhow for the creation of a display manufacturing industry in India. Using our pioneering experience in the display industry over the past three decades, we are proposing a strategy, a plan-of-action and some key recommendations to future stakeholders in India,” added Rajeswaran.

The report takes a macro-economic look at the rationale for the creation of a display manufacturing industry in India. It takes a deeper dive into the features of the display manufacturing industry such as economies-of-scale in production, describe the two major technology options such as TFT-LCD and AMOLED displays, highlights the role of the infrastructure and supply chain providers in the display industry and finally recommends a strategy and a plan-of-action for India.