MUMBAI: With a strong demand from aerospace, military, defense and industrial/automotive customers, and growing Asia Pacific markets, the world market for resistance standards and meters is poised for a modest growth, according to a Frost & Sullivan study.

he industrialized nations, such as the US and Europe are likely to act as caretaker markets and sustain the demand for these products.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan on World Resistance Standards and Meters Market, revealed that the market earned revenue of $104.87 million in 2004 and is estimated to reach $157.07 million in 2011.

"The market is presently witnessing a growing concern to offer safe products. Electrical/electronic safety testing has become more critical than ever before. These tests are typically aimed at ensuring that the end-user does not get hurt or electrocuted while operating the equipment," said F&S research analyst Madhan Dhandayutham.

"The challenge is to get the governing bodies to make certain tests mandatory. This is likely to drive the market for products such as the Megohm and milliohm meters."

Certain countries in the European region already have a stringent set of standards in place to monitor the safety of products being offered. Certain test standards are not mandatory even in countries like the United States and Eastern Europe. These test standards, once established in various countries including China, India, parts of Eastern Europe and the United States, is likely to drive the market for resistance standards and meters over the forecast period.

Several product segments in the resistance standards and meters market have grown into mature markets in developed nations such as the United States and United Kingdom. Products such as the decade resistor boxes and lab DC resistance standards have very low replacement rates due to the robustness in construction of these products. With slow replacement rates, the market is nearing stagnation in several developed countries.

"The market for products such as the lab DC resistance standards and decade resistor boxes are highly fragmented. These markets are very small in terms of revenue, and the participants in the arena are also small to mid sized companies. They frequently encounter issues in terms of management, productivity and sales strategies. The market fragmentation has caused the biggest challenge in terms of steering the market growth," said Dhandayutham.