Pinarayi Vijayan says he wants to transform Kerala into a manufacturing hub

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said the government was betting heavily on electric mobility. File Photo

The Kerala government intends to transform the state into a manufacturing hub with special focus on electronic hardware manufacturing, Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday.

Hardware parks, funding for EMCs, an Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) policy and formation of a Hardware Mission were announced in the last budget.

The Hardware Mission had conducted a study to identify key players in the ESDM ecosystem in the state, create an inventory of assets in electronics manufacturing and core competencies that could be developed, he said. The CM said the mission had submitted its EDSM policy report, which indicated a potential for Kerala to leverage its strengths in human resources, startup ecosystem, high consumption and a proactive policy to establish a manufacturing hub in electronics and related hardware.

“Kerala is betting heavily on electric mobility and this will be a huge opportunity for attracting manufacturing to the state,” he said. The possibility of exploiting the existing strengths to enable a power electronics cluster in the state was also being explored, the CM said.

An MoU with Intel and UST for exploring the potential to establish manufacturing of PCs and servers in the state was also on the anvil, he said. Vijayan said once the feasibility was established, a joint venture with government and private players would be made. He claimed these initiatives would also help public sector Keltron to regain its position as a key player in electronics manufacturing.