Electronics The electronics technology and industry have an incredible power to improve the overall standard of living in the country. Electronics, is also vital to the improvement of productivity in industry. Modern on-line process control instrumentation, data acquisition systems, appropriate automation of the production processes and computerised design can considerably reduce down-time, help optimum utilisation of existing facilities and improve industrial efficiency. Department of Electronics (DOE) has helped bring the benefits of electronics to all walks of life and is responsible for making the Indian Electronics Industry a global player. It plays a promotional role in the development and use of electronics for socio-economic purposes. Application of electronics in fields like agriculture, health and service sectors has been paid special attention. A multi-pronged approach has been adopted for result-oriented research and development with extra emphasis on micro-electronics,telematics, high performance computing and software development.
Technology Development/Infrastructure
The Department of Electronics supports and funds technology development through its councils set up in several spheres, such as, the Technology Development Council (TDC) for areas like components, computer communication and instrumentation, etc., the National Radar Council (NRC) for radars, navigational aids, sonars, underwater electronics systems, laser and infra-red based detection/ranging systems etc. These councils also provide inter-ministerial forum for all-round development including generation of production capabilities in their respective fields.Time bound projects in particular areas are implemented through separate scientific societies like Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) which has conceived, designed and delivered parallel super computer with peak computing power of 1 G Flops. Their second project is aimed at a super computer of 100 G Flops speed. The Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) has been established to provide technology for several electronic materials.
The Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Programme provides standardisation, testing, calibration and certification support to Indian electronics industries meeting national/international norms through its network of 21 labs throughout the country. STQC has also established dedicated training institutes like Centre for Electronic Test Engineering under Society for Electronic Test Engineering and Indian Institute of Quality Management. STQC has MoUs with leading safety testing and certification organisations like UL USA and VDE Germany. The test reports/certificates issued by STQC are recognised by these organisations, as by the member countries of IECEE which can facilitate Indian industries to compete in the global market.
Public Sector Undertakings
The Department of Electronics has three public sector corporations under its administrative control: CMC Limited, ET&T Limited and Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL). The Department also operates closely with other PSUs like BEL, ECIL, ITI, BHEL etc.CMC Limited, established in 1976 is dedicated to the creative use of computers, and information and technology tools in core sectors of the economy through applications which increase productivity and improve the quality of life. The turnover of CMC Limited is expected to cross Rs 140 crore registering a growth of over 20 per cent. During 1994-95, CMC has commissioned the multicore Generation Data Acquisition and Management System (GDAMS) for NTPC. CMC provides hardware maintenance support to a range of equipments supplied by more than 30 manufacturers. It also coordinates the implementation of the project INDONET which is an integrated information management and distributed data processing facility spread over the whole nation. Its technical expertise covers applications like: computerisation of railway passenger reservation systems; automatic message switching systems; ticketless trunk exchange in telecommunications; computerised fingerprint identification systems; economic load of banking operations etc. CMC has bagged many prize software development orders from the international markets. It also acquired Baton Rouge International (BRI), a US based company which provides comprehensive banking software and other such services, a vital step towards globalisation. BRI will provide CMC an entry into the world of international banking and also double as a front end for the latter's foray into the US and Canadian markets.
Electronics Trade and Technology Development Corporation (ET&T) was established with the intention of expanding foreign trade in electronics and undertaking developments of technology in vital areas. It recorded a major breakthrough in exports in April-December 1994, when it exported 6400 CTV sets to Germany under an EHTP scheme. ET&T has also branched into training in the areas of computer hardware and software, and customer specific turn-key installation contracts. Margadarshan programme has been adopted by ET&T to disseminate education through electronic media on a much larger scale, namely, vocational, curricular, community development, adult literacy, children's education, awareness on science and technology programmes and make such educational video cassettes available at affordable prices to the consumers.
Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL) was established with the primary objective of designing, developing and manufacturing LSI/VLSI circuits. SCL went into commercial production in April 1984. The company has undertaken a turn-key project to set up a state-of-the-art Gallium Arsenide Enabling Technology (GAETEC) at Hyderabad. It has achieved full capacity utilisation in Quartz Analog Watch-chip on Board and Electronic Circuit Block (QAW-COB AND ECB). Five VLSI design centres at NOIDA, Bangalore, Lucknow, Baroda and Bhubaneswar are fully operational at present.
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