India's Role in 'Manufacturing Security' Economy

Article By Vishal Verma Founder of CyberIndia.org and Partner at Edgewood Ventures

India is consuming electronics at an unparalleled rate and in today’s economy, India is importing over $170B of Oil, $110B of Gold and $110B of Electronics.

While the global manufacturing growth rate is in the high 2%, India is growing at double digits and the goal is to reach manufacturing contribution to GDP at 25% which will position India as a top 5 manufacturing economies and employers in the global sector.

The Government of India has announced Digital India, Connect India and Make in India program, with substantial budgets already allocated. In addition, India needs support for critical infrastructure programs in Defense, Aerospace and Atomic Energy. With these programs and policies in place, Preferential Market Access (PMA) can be a huge GDP multiplier for India. Sectors that will drive demand are Smart cards, LapTop, Smart Meters, Tablets, Set Top Boxes, and Smartphones.

The Ministry to Finance passed the PMA under Government Procurement and now all government departments need to abide by the PMA policy as per the Notification dated September 14, 2017 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. However, there are still many limitations and much more clarity is needed to convince a company to manufacture in India if there are no material benefits due to the L1 process.

Electronics Manufacturing has become a key part of Prime Minister Modi’s administration strategy for growth in India. The Fab in India is key for completely secure and trusted systems to be developed in India, which will drive the Prime Minister's efforts to ensure a successful Make in India and Digital India Initiative.

Manufacturing Economic Impact:

The Economic Impact Report estimates growth for the local economy where the electronic ecosystems are very impactful and change the status of the economy. The report covers: Employment (Direct, Indirect & Induced), Labor Income (Direct, Indirect & Induced) and Contribution to GDP (Direct, Indirect & Induced)

As the country invests in developing their critical infrastructure with projects like Ascon, NKN, NOFN, we will need to build trusted networks and devices.

The above-mentioned manufacturing strategies are poised to become a reality for India in the coming future. India will need to also have a parallel strategy for “Manufacturing Security”. As manufacturing technologies are becoming more sophisticated, are turning more electronics and robotics there will be more potential points of instructions.

Many areas India can lead on the technology innovation front. The basic component of an electronic device is the semiconductor. Currently, Semiconductors are not being manufactured in India for any devices. In addition, the industry is very sophisticated with decades or investment in many regions.

Technologies:

India can leverage and lead technologies for Design verification and camouflage technologies to produce the devices at a component level.

Design Verification for Trustworthiness of components will analyze all types of microelectronic devices including Smartcards, Microcontrollers, ASICs, Digital, Linear, Memory Arrays and FPGA’s.

Full circuit extraction, simulations, and security evaluations can also be performed. Product Analysis encompasses a broad range of analysis techniques which include analyzing die technology processes, and package/assembly features to evaluate inherent reliability problems.

Die Technology and Package Construction Analysis is very crucial to components and can be evaluated inherent reliability problems. Microcircuit and Package Security Evaluations – Security Robustness

Failure Analysis (FA) - Is done using a scientific approach during which the device under investigation is carefully analyzed to establish a link between the electrical or mechanical failure mode reported by the customer to a physical failure mechanism on the device under investigation.

Camouflage Technology for Semiconductors

Camouflage technologies are a unique and innovative approach to offer data protection and key management system solutions to both military and civilian application.

In addition, the technology, incorporated into an ASIC design, will resist reverse-engineering attacks.

Securing the supply chain:

In any industry, the supply chain is as strong as their weakest link. The electronic industry globally is very complex with many layers of the supply chain spanning the globe.

From a security focus, India will need to implement the following to maintain a level of integrity in their security infrastructure:

• * Adopt Global and local Verification Methods
• * Secure Devices at the component level
• * Invest in developing talent by bringing expertise from NRIs globally

Summary

It is a matter of time when India will develop it’s own manufacturing Eco System.

It is worrisome but inevitable that India will need to adopt technologies to protect their Manufacturing Security. India has an advantage with their limited legacy systems in the country, which India will leverage to adopt the latest and greatest technologies without major engineering or retrofitting of the current systems.

During the interim, the country needs a hybrid strategy with developing technologies to protect each device at the component and semiconductor level. India has a huge market and the advantage India has is its 1.5B population that will consume electronics.

The next few decades are for India!!! Let us leverage the growth momentum and add the Manufacturing Security issues.