BANGALORE: Almost two decades after Texas Instruments (TI) set up its R&D base in Bangalore, it is eyeing the Indian market in a big way, thanks to the buoyancy in the local electronics products market, notably cellular handsets.

But not only mobiles, growth in consumer electronics, defence and automotive segments too has pushed the $14.2-billion semiconductor behemoth — whose chips are targeted at these areas — to work out an India-focused marketing strategy.

“India growth is just the tip of an iceberg giving the company a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” says TI India director of marketing and sales Arun Jain. “The inflection point is 2007 and the growth rate over the 3-4 years will be five times that of global electronic manufacturing.

To support this growth, TI India is positioned to play a larger role with strong local support, ease of buy and a large portfolio of analog and signal processing solutions,” he adds. High disposable income, changing lifestyle and affordability due to reducing cost of technology are the prime drivers behind this growth.

For one, TI’s Locosto, ultra Locosto, ecosto and OMAP chips for cellphones are aimed at emerging markets like India to address the spurt of feature-rich cost-effective phones that cater to both need and lifestyle.

“The user behaviour in India is phenomenal with fast adoption of value-added services, especially in the mobile space,” Mr Jain says. The LoCosto line of low-cost chips are aimed at phones priced between $40 and $100 while the OMAP advanced chips will cater to high-end phones with video playback facilities.

Not just mobile or wireless technology. “Industrial, power and communications verticals are also on a fast growth track in India. We see our products like msp430 in fast emerging e-meters. Also, our portable power and plug-in power solutions find place in portable devices that are taking centre stage in fast-growing markets like India,” spells out Mr Jain.

While some of the market segments are already mature, there are some (controllers for automobiles, for example) where the absolute numbers are small, but the potential is huge.

The numbers back TI’s drive: According to a Indian Semiconductor Association-Frost & Sullivan report, India’s electronic equipment consumption, estimated at $28.2 billion in 2005, is expected to reach $126.7 billion by 2010 and $363 billion by 2015 — a CAGR of 29.8%.

In-Stat’s research pegs the semiconductor market in India to grow from $1.2 billion in 2005 to $3.1 billion by 2010 making it the fastest growing market in the world.

Naturally, the company is beefing up its marketing presence. The company, which supplies to original equipment manufacturers, finds that a large number of customers are now local especially in segments like set-top boxes, DVD players and writers.