The Cabinet cleared the Rs 76,000-cr incentive scheme for semiconductors today. Under this scheme, India will set up more than 20 semiconductor design, components manufacturing and display fabrication (fab) units over the next six years.
This is part of Modi government’s bid to make the country a hub for electronics. The nod comes almost a year after the govt sought expressions of interest from companies to this effect.
The ministry of electronics & IT (MeitY) will now work out the granular details and invite applications.
The new semiconductor policy will help deepen India’s manufacturing base, a senior government official had told ET prior to the approval.
The scheme has been named the “Programme for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem.”
As part of the scheme, apart from big companies, the govt will also seek to incentivise startups to design and make semiconductors. In all, investments worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore are expected to materialise, according to media reports.
The plan envisages training 85,000 semiconductor engineers to make it a complete C to S (chips to startups) ecosystem (including design, fabrication, testing and packaging), Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. He also elaborated on a new design linked incentive (DLI), of which 50% of the cost will be borne by the government.
The government’s target as of now includes one to two fab units for displays, and 10 units each for designing and producing components.
So far, Israel’s Tower Semiconductor, Apple’s contract manufacturer Foxconn and a Singapore-based consortium have shown interest in setting up semiconductor units here, according to government sources quoted by Reuters. Vedanta Group also expressed similar interests sometime back.