Demand for Services

Extent of usage of instrumentation among different users & industries varies considerably in the Indian context. With growing competitive pressure, increasing automation & precision of measurements and controls are now being sought by users. In the existing scenario, investment in instrumentation related to the plant investment in a given use or industry varies considerably ranging from 0.1% to 6%. The low figure is for older plants which the high figure is for modern, green-fields project. There is also variation according to the using industry. Thus modernization of other plants to enhance instrumentation content will provide additional demand for services.

The existing population of instrumentation is in use of an extent of about 85% on weighted average basis. Since the Indian economy is getting ready to absorb more modern instrumentation, utilization must further improve & therefore, will need modern management of maintenance & repairs. Improvement in service & maintenance will not only further increase the usage level of existing instrumentation but also pave the way for better use of the more sophisticated and expensive instruments of future. Actions begun now can have considerable effect on the utilization of sophisticated instruments of the future.

This study has, alt all points, been conservative in estimating & quantifying the overall problem relating to instrumentation. Nevertheless, we foresee as detailed- out in the report, the present instrumentation annual demand or Rs. 13 billion in 1993 expanding to Rs. 29 Billion by the end of the century, postulating an average use- life of 7 years; it is seen that the present population of instruments would be (at original value) Rs. 70 Billion. This would, by the end of century rise to a population valued at over Rs. 155 Billion.

Based on the kind of maintenance estimates indicated by the respondents, the above population will call for annual outside maintenance business exceeding Rs. 2.5 Billion currently &rising to Rs. 5.5 Billion at end century. With increasing sophistication of instrumentation and inflating costs, one could look forward to a larger requirement than that. Study also indicates the value of population of disused equipments which could need repairs and reinstallation to rise from Rs. 2.2 Billion currently to over Rs. 5.0 Billion by end of century. Some of these instruments would need total overhaul, refurbishments & upgradation.

When we realize that instrumentation is only one area of sophisticated electronics equipments and note that there are other areas like Industrial Electronics, Office Automation, Data Processing, Telecom and so on, the magnitude of the S, R&M problem can be appreciated. It is clear that even a partial solution will call for active participation and co-operation from a number of entities towards a common goal