BANGALORE, INDIA: As we see a big surge in India Embedded Industry, the more number of avenues are opening up for Indian companies to target and address the needs in embedded space.

In an interaction with Abhigna N G of CIOL, Poornima Shenoy, president, ISA says its high time that the Indian companies focused on industry segments like automotive, industrial, portable/wireless and consumer electronics which are heavily dependent on electronics taking the advantage of huge talent pool in India.

CIOL: How do you see Indian developer community opting for embedded industry as a career option as against software development?

Poornima Shenoy: The embedded software market will expand as non-captive companies move up the value chain to offer more high-value activities around middleware and develop applications for them. The distinguishing factor for design services will be value rather than cost, and as customers expect more value there will be pressure on design service companies to innovate and provide better quality services.

In addition to this, the growing Indian consumer market will spur the creation of India-specific products, leading to an increased focus on India as a market for design services companies. The increased expenditure forecasted in certain sectors, including telecommunication, defense, automotives and consumer electronics, which are heavily dependent on electronics, will contribute to the growth in the next five years. All this factors will create a lot of job opportunities for Indian engineers.

Moreover, we have reached a stage where Indian IT services companies compete on value addition and not the cost arbitrage. The next logical step for us would be to move beyond services and start creating intellectual properties.

CIOL: Highlight on the scope of choosing embedded designing as career for qualified engineers graduates ?

PS: India has a large number of qualified engineers graduating from colleges of repute. Engineers specialized in Electronics & Communication, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Physics and Master’s /PhDs in these subjects would fit the requirements of the design industry. Knowledge of hardware as well as software is expected of the engineers to work for this sector.

There are huge job opportunities too in this field. For every VLSI engineer in the semiconductor industry, 10 design engineers and 100 application software engineers are employed. Stock options, flexi-time, exposure to high technology and global practices are the hidden benefits.

Leading companies in areas such as device conceptualization, IC design, IP development, hardware board development, embedded software development and systems integration hire talents in this industry.

CIOL: How do you see Indian product companies’ competency as compared to other MNCs?

PS: The Indian semiconductor industry has developed expertise in processes ranging from logic and architectural synthesis to chip tape-out. Today, India is a global hub for mainstream R&D and Indian engineers are working on some of the most advanced technologies in the world.

India is witnessing the emergence of products that are completely conceptualized and developed out of India and this trend will continue. Most of the home grown companies started off as service companies taking advantage of availability of talented manpower and built the entire ecosystem to support this system. However, going forward, this trend will change as the rupee strengthens, wages increase, and the margins are affected.

Product innovation and creation of intellectual property would be key factors for companies to sustain growth in future. Aligned with this strategy, companies can adopt a hybrid model for developing their own IP or product, in addition to continuing with customized design and development services to their customers in the semiconductor space.

By identifying the right technologies, associating with academic institutions for high-end research, we have the potential to produce some super successful companies in India.