Production value of computers was worth Rs 2,300 crore in 1998-99 compared to Rs 2,800 crore in the previous year - a fall of around 18 per cent.

Value of production in industrial electronics sector, which provides electronic gadgets for various industries, too fell by around ten per cent from Rs 3150 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 2850 crore in 1998-99, the report says.

The total production value in the electronics sector including consumer and strategic electronics, communication and broadcast equipment, components and software increased by around 28 per cent from Rs 32,070 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 41,100 crore in 1998-99. In hardware sectors, strategic electronics showed the highest increase of around 44 per cent in production value followed by consumerelectronics, which witnessed an increase of 21 per cent.

The electronics components sector, however, did not attract any significant investment and its production base continues to be weak, the report says.Advances in miniaturisation of electronics hardware did not help the Indian component industry either. The total production value of electronics components was Rs 5,000 crore in 1998-99, an increase of around 14 per cent over that of the previous year.

In communication and broadcasting equipment sector, production value increased by about 12 per cent from Rs 3,250 crore in 1997-98 to Rs 3,650 crore in 1998-99. Production of colour televisions (CTV) increased by 30 per cent from 34 lakh units in 1997-98 to 44 lakh units in 1998-99 and colour picture tube (CPT) production recorded a growth of over 40 per cent in the same period, the report says.

The number of black and white televisions, video cassette players/recorders and radio receivers produced in 1998-99 was the same as the previous year's figures.