Every smartphone, laptop, television, automobile, defence system, or industrial machine runs on a hidden foundation most consumers never notice: the printed circuit board, or PCB. Often called the ‘backbone’ of electronics, a PCB is the platform that connects and powers all electronic components inside a device and helps semiconductors, sensors, memory chips, and processors communicate with each other.

Yet despite India emerging as a major electronics assembly hub, the country remains heavily dependent on imports for PCBs, especially advanced multilayer boards used in smartphones, servers, telecom equipment, and automobiles. Much of this supply today comes from countries like China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam. This creates a major gap in India’s electronics manufacturing ambitions, where final products may increasingly be assembled locally, but a large share of the core electronic backbone is still imported. And the day that exporting nation decides to use this dependence as a strategic lever, whether through export restrictions, trade disputes, or supply disruptions, India’s electronics value chain could face significant vulnerabilities. Building domestic PCB manufacturing capabilities is therefore not just an economic opportunity, but increasingly a matter of supply chain resilience and strategic autonomy.

What makes this more interesting is that India was not always so dependent. In the 1980s, the country had a growing domestic PCB manufacturing ecosystem supported by government policies, public sector demand, and an early push toward electronics self-reliance. So how did India move from having indigenous PCB manufacturing capabilities to becoming deeply import dependent today? In today’s blog, we will trace this journey and understand the key policy decisions, global shifts, and missed opportunities that shaped India’s PCB industry over the last four decades.

Bharat Electronics Limited established its PCB manufacturing facility as early as 1968, and throughout the 1980s it served the bulk of defence, radar, and government electronics demand with captive in-house production. ITI (Indian Telephone Industries) and ECIL similarly fabricated boards for their own verticals: the telephone exchanges, the CDOT digital switches, the Doordarshan transmitter rollout.

By the late 1980s, Sulakshana Circuits (1988), Garg Electronics (1989), and a wave of small-scale units seeded by the government’s MTB scheme had joined them, collectively covering single-sided and double-sided board requirements for the booming TV assembly and early PC manufacturing sectors.

While domestic manufacturers were already capable of producing double-sided PCBs locally, they still depended on imports for key raw materials such as copper-coated glass epoxy sheets, as India lacked domestic production of sheets with the required 17.5-micron copper thickness. This implied India’s PCB dependency was concentrated more on the upstream side of the value chain.

However, India’s challenges in electronics manufacturing extended beyond raw material dependence. Even in segments where domestic production capabilities existed, manufacturers often struggled to achieve globally competitive economics. A case in point was the country’s early integrated circuit (IC) industry. As shown in the table below, production of SSI/MSI integrated circuits increased more than twenty-fold between FY1976 and FY1988, rising from 0.19 million units to over 4.1 Mn units. Yet for most of this period, the industry remained loss-making despite the growth in output.

Quantum Computing has recently reached a crucial milestone with IBM aiming for a 4,000+ qubit system by 2025. Meanwhile, governments worldwide are investing heavily in quantum research, recognizing its potential impact on national security and technological advancement. China has reportedly invested $10 billion in a national quantum laboratory, while the US has committed $1.2 billion to the National Quantum Initiative. Though a fully functional, error-corrected quantum computer remains years away, the progress in recent years suggests we’re moving steadily toward this revolutionary technology.

In 2023, private and corporate investments in quantum technology (QT)* start-ups experienced a 27% decline, totaling $1.71 billion, down from $2.35 billion in 2022. This decrease was less severe than the 38% drop observed across all global start-up investments during the same period. Notably, 62% of the QT funding was directed toward companies established five or more years ago, indicating a strategic focus on scaling mature start-ups.

In contrast, public investments in QT surged by over 50% in 2023, accounting for nearly a third of all QT investments. Countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and South Korea announced substantial new funding, bringing total global public investment to approximately $42 billion.

The quantum computing (QC) industry is undergoing rapid growth, as reflected in a recent McKinsey survey of industry leaders. The survey highlights a shift in the size and scale of companies in the sector: firms with fewer than six employees have increased from 0% to 11%, while those with over 100 employees have risen from 9% to 39%. This indicates both the emergence of new players and the scaling up of established companies, signaling progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC).

Fault-tolerant QC refers to a system capable of performing quantum computations reliably, even in the presence of errors. Unlike today’s noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) systems, FTQC would use error-corrected qubits to process information more accurately and execute long computations without failure. Over 65% of surveyed experts expect FTQC to be achieved by 2030, though debates persist regarding whether “true” fault tolerance requires large-scale logical qubits or whether high-error tolerance with minimal correction suffices for useful applications.

Progress toward FTQC is evident in the rise of practical QC use cases, with 55% of respondents now having an in-production use case, up from 33% the prior year. Sectors like aerospace, automotive, oil and gas, and medical technology are among the early adopters likely to benefit from these advancements.

In India, the government has taken significant steps to bolster the quantum technology sector. The National Quantum Mission, approved by the Union Cabinet with a budget of ₹6,003.65 crore (approximately $730 million) for 2023–2031, aims to advance quantum technologies in alignment with national initiatives like Digital India and Make in India. This mission focuses on developing quantum computing, communication, sensing, and materials, with the establishment of Thematic Hubs (T-Hubs) at premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru and various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). These efforts underscore India’s commitment to scaling established start-ups and fostering innovation in the quantum technology landscape.

Quantum computers can perform certain calculations exponentially faster than classical computers. This capability becomes particularly crucial for problems like cryptography, drug discovery, climate modeling, and optimization challenges that are practically impossible for traditional computers to solve. This makes quantum computing the potential key to breakthroughs in a number of critical industries.

• Pharmaceuticals: Quantum computers that can simulate molecular behavior and biochemical reactions could greatly expedite the research and development of life-saving new drugs and medical treatments.
• Chemistry: Quantum computing might also provide undiscovered solutions for mitigating dangerous or destructive chemical byproducts. It could lead to development of improved catalysts that provide alternatives for petrochemicals or better processes for the carbon breakdown necessary for combating climate-threatening emissions.
• Machine learning: With AI and ML inviting more and more investment, researchers are testing the limits of our existing hardware by pushing AI models to new extremes. Evidence suggests that some quantum algorithms may be able to assimilate datasets in a new way, expediting the finding of a solution to some machine learning problems.

Technological: The primary challenge in quantum computing lies in maintaining quantum coherence – keeping qubits in their quantum state long enough to perform calculations. Environmental factors like temperature, electromagnetic radiation, and physical vibrations can cause “decoherence,” destroying the quantum properties essential for computation. Engineers must also tackle the challenge of scaling up quantum systems while maintaining precise control over individual qubits. Error correction remains another significant hurdle, as quantum systems are inherently prone to errors that must be detected and corrected without disturbing the quantum state.

Scalability: Challenges persist, including limited access to advanced hardware, low awareness of QT applications, and inadequate interdisciplinary collaboration between academia and industry. To overcome these hurdles, coordinated innovation clusters are emerging globally. These partnerships between researchers, industry leaders, and governments aim to advance QT development, manage intellectual property, and drive regional technological value creation.

A sustainable quantum ecosystem depends on three pillars: talent development, effective collaboration, and realistic expectations.

Talent Development
Building a skilled workforce requires expanding the talent pipeline beyond traditional physics PhDs. Programs introducing quantum concepts at earlier educational stages can prepare students for the unique challenges of QC.

Talent development in quantum computing saw significant progress in 2023, with 367,000 graduates earning QT-relevant degrees. The number of universities offering QT programs grew by 8.3% to 195, and those offering master’s degrees increased by 10% to 55. The European Union and the United Kingdom lead in graduate numbers and density, respectively.

Collaboration Models
Strong partnerships among academia, industry, and governments are essential for advancing QC. Reducing bureaucratic barriers, fostering open-source tools, and securing venture capital will drive innovation and enable practical applications.

Managing Expectations
Clear communication about the current state and future potential of QC is crucial to avoid disillusionment. Transparent updates and realistic goal-setting will maintain trust and ensure that stakeholders remain engaged in advancing the field.

Focusing on these priorities will create an ecosystem capable of supporting QC’s long-term growth and delivering transformative technologies.

Quantum computing stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution. While companies have achieved significant milestones, the industry is moving from experimental phases toward practical applications with India throwing its hat in the ring through its National Quantum Mission.

With talent in the field only set to grow further, experts are more than hopeful that fault-tolerant quantum computing will be achieved by 2030, which would mark a revolutionary breakthrough. While challenges persist, the increasing number of practical use cases across industries and the growing ecosystem of researchers, industries, and governments suggest we’re steadily advancing toward a quantum-enabled future.