This is the first time that the government of India is discussing about the kinds of incentives required to bring semiconductor companies in India, with semiconductor companies
More than 20 companies have shown interest in setting up semiconductor fabrication plants in India. A report by Hindu BusinessLine quoting Rajeev Khushu, president, IESA, noted that two-three of the projects quoted by these 20 companies are very serious projects.
The government, as per the report is looking towards three to four companies for seriously pursuing the scheme. However, the government does not want to fix the form or amount of incentives it will be rolling out.
“They wanted to mention a figure to create interest. This also means that they are not restricting the figures to $100,000, a million or a billion,” Khushu was quoted saying.
He added, “The government is open to increase the incentive amount based on the investment the company is bringing in the country.”
This, as per Khushu, is the first time that the government of India is discussing about the kinds of incentives required to bring semiconductor companies in India, with semiconductor companies. Khushu reckons some serious players can soon come to India because of this approach.
This is not the first time that the government of India has shared plans to setup chip fabrication units. The authorities, around 2013-14, had announced that India was getting ready to house two chip manufacturing plants with more than $5 billion in investments. First, the joint venture between Jaypee Infratech, IBM and Israel’s Tower Jazz, was scrapped followed by scrapping of a similar project that involved the likes of STMicroelectronics.
Investors, at that time, were in doubt about the potential of the plan that the Indian authorities had made to set up a 22 nanometer (nm) chip.
“The National Policy on Electronics 2019 (NPE 2019) has been notified on February 25, 2019. The vision of NPE 2019 is to position India as a global hub for electronics system design and manufacturing (ESDM) by encouraging and driving capabilities in the country for developing core components, including chipsets, and creating an enabling environment for the industry to compete globally,” minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre had said recently.
