MAIT foresees big impact of global IT supply chain disruptions on India

BANGALORE, INDIA: The Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT), the apex body actively representing entire IT Hardware ecosystem for India, requested the industry and consumers for support and patience caused due to severe shortage of IT hardware products. This is due to unprecedented rains and floods in Thailand, which has severely disrupted the global supply chain for many key components in the IT Hardware industry.

Many IT component manufacturers are based in Thailand. In the flooding the Computer Hard-disk manufacturing got the maximum impact as manufacturing plants of all four large players are located in the flooded area.

Dr Alok Bharadwaj, president – MAIT, said: “The situation in Thailand is directly affecting the Computer Hard disk manufacturing as it has impacted all four large manufacturers. As per initial estimates the impact is 40 percent of worldwide demand. This has caused tremendous supply shortage for laptops and desktops. The immediate impact is being felt for bulk supplies to Government bodies like Elcot and DGS&D.MAIT is keeping all State Govt and Central Government ministries informed. Meanwhile, all laptop and desktop companies operating in India are reaching out to customers to request their patience.”

Overall challenges to the global IT/electronics industry following the Thailand calamity are likely to tell on the prices of the components. Manufacturers are also not able to commit deliveries, in spite of price increase, which in turn is bound to have a cascading effect.

Dr Bharadwaj added: “We are appealing to the government and consumers to allow longer delivery period to combat the sudden shrinkage in the supply situation. Suppliers are making all efforts to divert stocks to India to cater to few large orders but it takes time. They should be spared of penalties or strictures on delays caused by the devastation as this is an act of God. The global price increase due to the shortage are not being passed on to Indian consumers as of now. The impact of this shortage is also being felt on few other IT peripherals too.”