Chinese companies, including global majors Hikvision and Dahua, controlled a dominant one-third of the Indian network camera market before April 1, according to reports from Business Standard. The Indian market has been growing at over 16% per annum, making it a significant opportunity for domestic companies. However, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) made it mandatory from April 1 for companies selling network cameras to get certification from the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification Directorate under the ministry, model by model. Without this certification, companies cannot manufacture or sell network cameras in the country.
Homegrown network camera manufacturers are now filling the market gap, with companies including Aditya Infotech (makers of CP Plus), Prama India, VVDN Technologies, Matrix Comsec, Vicon Security, Samridhi Automation, Qubo (owned by Hero Electronix), and Securus having received certification from the government for manufacturing and selling over 196 network camera models till August this year, as reported by MeitY. The move is expected to give a significant push to the Make in India initiative, with approximately 2.5 million units sold annually in the $2-2.5 billion network camera market.
The certification requirements have encouraged startup chip design companies under the design-linked incentive (DLI) scheme to work on silicon for powering these CCTVs. According to Business Standard, SoCs account for 25-35% of the bill of material cost of the cameras. Among the companies cleared for funding under the DLI scheme, Chennai-based Mindgrove Technologies has created vision chips that are being commercially rolled out and has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Prama, which has the largest number of cameras cleared, to deploy its SoC on surveillance products. Kerala-based Netrasemi has tested an advanced 12 nm vision SoC optimised for high-end video analytics and built its own intellectual property, backed by Zoho Corporation.
The decision has led camera manufacturers to shift their sourcing of SoCs from China to Taiwan, South Korea, the US and Singapore for the time being, as reported by Business Standard. Every model must clear both firmware and hardware cybersecurity evaluation, with the microscopic tracing of hardware and software in the cameras helping homegrown companies export to western countries, which are also putting restrictions on Chinese CCTV products. The move was primarily made due to concerns over cybersecurity risks and data sovereignty. This supply chain diversification comes as India continues to maintain cautious engagement with China while easing some curbs on Chinese participation in the Indian economy.
