Time Travel to Yesterday: With Ajay Sawhney

Ever thought of entering a time-capsule that takes you not many eons away but just a decade back-to help you capture how much the country has changed with just a few forces silently at work? Let's do that now.

- Pratima H

The PLI concept, the boost to semiconductors and electronics, and bolstering India's strengths on non-software areas-these are questions that can open an entire treasure chest of ideas, struggles, and lessons. Sunil Rajguru, Editor, Dataquest did just that as he dusted off this box of precious insights in a freewheeling conversation with Ajay Sawhney, Former Secretary MelTY.

The Rear-View Mirror

Sawhney was generous and candid enough to escort us into a world that we know not much of. "We were not pulling our weight as a nation in electronics. In the first 10-12 years of this century-this situation persisted. But then the government started to change it. In the five years just before the pandemic, we were able to grow at a fairly respectable rate-at 23 percent YoY in Rupee terms. When the pandemic hit us, even then, we plateaued and did not go down. This year too we have seen a growth of about $85 to 90 billion. We are actually on the way to become a fairly significant economy for electronics. We have grown from a very low base."