Trade deals a big positive for export prospects of EMS players, says Dixon’s Atul Lall

Atul Lall, Past President, ELCINA and MD and VC, Dixon Technologies | Photo Credit: BIJOY GHOSH

The cloud of uncertainty surrounding global trade is now going away with a line-up of Free Trade Agreements signed by India, and it opens up opportunities in global markets, said Atul Lall, MD & Vice chairman of Dixon Technologies.

While exports makes up a small portion of the electronics manufacturing company’s current revenue, Lall said a slew of recent FTA wins by India is motivating the larger industry and Dixon to reinvent product portfolio and prepare themselves to grow exports.

“Earlier, when an element of uncertainty was there, the addressable opportunity, apart from mobiles, was largely confined to the domestic market. Now, the opportunity opens up for the global markets,” he said in a select media interaction. He acknowledged that the industry had a lot to do to prepare for this increased addressable market in terms of talent ramp up, technology upgradation and product standards.

Weak mobile sales due to higher memory prices in recent months dragged Dixon’s topline in the quarter ended December. Lall listed servers, printers, SSD modules, memory modules, and the mechanical components for laptops among various new products they are keen on. “Some of these are in very early stages,” he said. Dixon is also keen to set up a campus for industrial EMS activity, wherein they will attempt to get into automotive [electronics], he said.

On talent shortage

To further ramp up skilled talent needed for the sector, Lall urges the industry to replicate what the IT services companies did 20 years ago. “We need to have more skilling schools, learning schools, internal partners, external partners, and take the skilling level to a different level, possibly adopt some ITIs, diploma colleges,” he said.

Appreciating the new Labor Codes, he said that provisions around allowing female workers to work at night shift is a positive. As an industry we need to build dormitories, large campuses, and build a social infrastructure for the workforce.

China plus one

With regard to India’s competitors in the global arena, Lall said that some countries are ahead of India by 8-10 years, and the supply chains are deeply entrenched. “Once the component ecosystem is in place and investments for this is already coming in, then the whole sector is going to become much more stable,” he said.

Published on February 10, 2026