Govt. announces new semiconductor policy

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has announced a new semiconductor policy in an effort to boost the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India.

The plan was approved by the Cabinet last week and is in line with the National Policy on Electronics 2019 NPE 2019 With this, the government is aiming to attract big investments for setting up Semiconductor Fabs in the country, and making India a global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing ESDM. As per the gazette notification, the government will provide financial support for two semiconductor and two display fabs in the country. The application window is open on January 1, 2022, for 45 days.

Support will be provided for a period of six years.

The fiscal support outflow may be extended based on the approval of the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, as per the official release.

The government will also provide additional infrastructure support through the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters EMC 2.0 Scheme, support for R&D, skill development and training, along with support from the state government if any, and demand aggregation.

The notification says that the semiconductor fabs in India will be supported by purchase preference in the procurement of electronic products by the government in the year 2017 under the Public Procurement Preference to Make in India Order.

Up to 2.5% of the scheme outlay will be allocated to meet R&D research and development skill development as well as training requirements for the development of the semiconductor ecosystem in the country.

The government unveiled a Rs 76,000 crore $10 billion package last week in order to incentivize chip manufacturing and design facilities in India.