As the consumer electronics and technology market blooms, printed electronics are steadily gaining momentum in India. Much like the developed world and East Asia, the country is moving from hard rigid silicon boxes of electronics to softer printed electronics – electronics that can be stretched, curved and flexed.
 
Currently, the size of the printed electronics industry is not very huge, but in the next few years, the market is expected to register double-digit growth.
 
Indian Printed Electronics Market
 
Expected to be about $55 million at the end of 2017, India currently accounts for less than 1% of the total global printed electronics market, which was estimated at $13.7 billion at the end of 2017.
 
Globally, the largest application of the printed electronics market is for optoelectronics, which focuses on devices which source and control light and energy. However, other segments such as sensors and radio frequencies are expected to register steady growth in coming years.  Currently, organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) account for the majority of the printed electronics market. Other segments such as electrophoretic, photovoltaics, electroluminescent and sensors are other major end-user segments.
 
“Today, a vast number of electronic devices rely on printed electronic technologies for function, form and flexibility,” said Neena Kurade, marketing manager with Domex India, a supplier of Henkel’s products in India. “Printing processes allow for high-volume, high-throughput and cost-effective manufacturing for many of the products we rely on every day. Typical to the electronics industry as a whole, the majority of applications that incorporate printed electronics are getting finer in dimension and more complex in functionality. Henkel’s ability to formulate inks that address the demands of fine-line printing, while maintaining robust conductive and other functional properties, sets us apart from the competition.”
 
Keetronics (India) Pvt. Ltd specializes in manufacturing functional printed electronics products.
 
“This fundamental concept has been known to mankind for last 40 years,” said Rajesh Kulkarni, managing director of Keetronics India. “In the early 1970s, silver was available in printed form. However, with a single silver ink or carbon ink, you can’t do much. The actual research on the subject of printed electronics started in 2005. The invention of nano inks paved the way for numerous possibilities and applications.”
 
Keetronics has invested in a range of laser cutting kit and several testing devices like life testing of keys, peel adhesion tester, dome pressure tester, etc. The majority of Keetronics’ print jobs include membrane keyboards and control panels. A printed circuit film keyboard as thin as 1mm can be produced. Then there are tactile, non-tactile and embossed keyboards. All these can find applications where there are control panels; the company’s clients include big names such as Philips, General Electric, Mitsubishi, Bharat Electronics, L&T and Tata, among others.
 
“In India, the applications of printed electronics don’t call for high volumes,” Kulkarni added. “The requirement is small quantities with customization. Flexibility and the cost-effective nature of printed electronics made it appealing to a broad range of industries in the global industry. Printed circuitry has the potential to reduce costs and technical constraints typically associated with mass producing electronics.”
 
“Comparatively lower production cost, attractive and flexible form factor and ease of integration will facilitate widespread development of non-conventional functional electronic devices, including flexible displays, smart labels and clothing etc.,” Kapil Chugh, chairman and managing director, Lemon Electronics, a mobile manufacturer based in Noida, India, noted. “However, the key driver for the electronic printing market in India in the next few years would be display technologies used in consumer products, especially in mobile devices. Recent investments in mobile manufacturing in India would lead to a spurt in demand for electronic printing.”
 
Indian Policy on Electronics Manufacturing
 
The recently released National Policy on Electronics (NPE) by the Indian government is expected to give an impetus to printed electronics manufacturing in the coming years. The policy, which was released by the country’s Information Technology ministry in the second half of October, has set an ambitious target of creating a $400 billion electronic manufacturing industry by 2025, with the mobile phone devices segment accounting for three-fourths of the production.
 
The draft policy aims to promote domestic manufacturing in the entire value-chain of ESDM (electronic system design and manufacturing) to spur economic development.
 
The proposed policy aims to double the target of mobile phone production from 500 million units in 2019 to 1 billion by 2025 to meet the objective. The $400 billion turnover shall include targeted production of 1 billion mobile handsets by 2025, valued at $190 billion, including 600 million mobile handsets valued at $110 billion for export, the draft states.
 
The policy proposes to push the development of core competencies in all the sub-sectors of electronics including electronic components and semiconductors, defense electronics, automotive electronics, industrial electronics, strategic electronics, etc.