India has come some way since it first started looking outward with economic reforms in the early 1990s. Although the path has been checkered with periods of slow progress, the country is now picking up steam.

India's GDP growth rate averaged at only 5.4 percent in the 1980s, and about one percent higher in the 1990s. But for the fiscal year that ended in March, the economy grew 9 percent.

The electronics sector shares this growth. Electronic hardware demand is estimated to grow from 1 percent to 12 percent of the GDP by 2015, and revenue from EMS and ODM operations is projected to grow from $774 million in 2004 to $2.03 billion next year.

The India Semiconductor Association (ISA) expects the country's semiconductor market revenue to double from $2.7 billion in 2006 to $5.49 billion in 2009. Total revenue of the design service market in 2007 is estimated at $6 billion, with 81 percent coming from embedded software, 13 percent from IC design and 6 percent from board-level design.

Key drivers
Low cost is a key growth driver. Bipin Parmar, principal analyst with technology consultancy The Chilli, explains that money spent in 2006 in India went 14 times further than the same amount expended in the United States. Rising wages have reduced this factor to eight or nine, but the advantage still explains why so few semiconductor startups are getting funded in Silicon Valley.

Another driver is the availability of talent. Every year, 112,000 engineers graduate in India. The ISA estimates about 130,000 professionals were employed in the design market as of 2007, of which 82 percent were working on embedded designs, 11 percent on IC designs and 7 percent on board-level designs.

The rapidly growing industry is, however, demanding more high-quality engineers. The ISA has regularly sounded the alarm on the depleting talent pool, highlighting the need to focus education efforts on areas of anticipated growth. ISA has identified communications, embedded systems and power electronics as rapidly growing segments.

The EE Times-Asia Network recognizes India's requirements for in-depth technical information and has launched the first two design channels for the country's engineering community: Embedded Design India (www.embeddeddesignindia.com) and Power Design India (www.powerdesignindia.com).

The Websites deliver a rich learning experience with daily technical papers, application notes, product news, datasheets, discussion rooms and Webinars.

We hope the design channels will enable you to reach the information you need in your design lab. We look forward to your feedback at vnanda@eetindia.com.

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