Semiconductor manufacturing, which is crucial to meet the strategic needs of the country, has attracted interest from global companies as a good number of applications have been received under the Semicon India Program.

The government had approved the Semicon India Program (Program for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem in India), with an outlay of INR 760 billion for the development of a sustainable semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in India on December 15, 2021. 

 Ashwini Vaishnaw Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology said this while addressing members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) which was held here last evening. 

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications Devusinh Chauhan were present in the meeting. 

Ashwini Vaishnaw apprised the participants that several state governments like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are in talks with the companies to set up Semiconductor manufacturing plants/fab complexes.

A presentation was given by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to inform the Hon’ble MPs regarding the potential for growth of the Electronics Sector in general and the Semiconductor sector in specific in India. The emerging market and large export potential of the Compound Semiconductors were also focused upon. MPs were informed about the measures being undertaken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology to promote Electronics Manufacturing in India and to support the Semiconductor and Display Ecosystem and allied sectors in the country.

The scheme for setting up Semiconductor Fabs in India provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up Semiconductor Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities in the country. Following fiscal support has been approved under the scheme.

Whereas scheme for setting up Display Fabs in India provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up Display Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up TFT LCD / AMOLED based display fabrication facilities in the country. The Scheme provides fiscal support of up to 50% of Project Costs subject to a ceiling of INR 12,000 crore per Fab.

Along the same lines government has also launched a Scheme for setting up Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fab and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) / OSAT facilities in India: The Scheme provides fiscal support of 30% of the Capital Expenditure to the eligible applicants for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics (SiPh) / Sensors (including MEMS) Fab and Semiconductor ATMP / OSAT facilities in India.

Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme offers financial incentives, design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductors linked to design. The scheme provides a “Product Design Linked Incentive” of up to 50% of the eligible expenditure subject to a ceiling of ₹15 Crore per application and a “Deployment Linked Incentive” of 6% to 4% of net sales turnover over 5 years subject to a ceiling of ₹30 Crore per application.

In addition to the above schemes, the Government has also approved the modernisation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory, Mohali as a brownfield Fab.

 India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been set up as an Independent Business Division within Digital India Corporation having administrative and financial autonomy to formulate and drive India’s long term strategies for developing semiconductors and display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design ecosystem.