The government gazette on Wednesday notified the scheme for setting up semiconductor fabrication plants in India, which was approved by the Cabinet last week.

The notification said that applications will be invited under the scheme from January 1, for a period of 45 days initially, which may be extended with the approval of the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The scheme may also be reopened for applications anytime during its tenure, with the approval of MeitY, it said.

“The scheme will be implemented through a nodal agency (India Semiconductor Mission). Such nodal agency will be responsible for carrying out technical appraisal and financial appraisal of the applications received under the scheme; recommending selection of applicants; and carrying out other responsibilities as assigned by the MeitY from time to time,” the notification said.

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The functions and responsibilities of the nodal agency will be elaborated in the scheme guidelines that MeitY would issue separately, it added.

The applicant(s) will also be evaluated on the ‘quality and cost-based selection’ (QCBS) criteria, which will include technical parameters such as process technologies, project implementation capacity and operation capability.

This will also include financial parameters such as fiscal support sought from the government. “The QCBS evaluation criteria shall be decided by MeitY in consultation with nodal agency and approved by the MeitY,” the notification stated.

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It further said that support under the scheme will be provided on pari passu basis for six years and the government will provide fiscal support of up to 50 per cent of a project cost for display fabs.

The government may also extend the benefits of the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) scheme for the development of infrastructure and/or common facility centre, subject to the proposal satisfying the EMC 2.0 framework requirements, it said.

For the semiconductor ecosystem, the government will provide 30 per cent of the capital expenditure and the tenure of the scheme will be three years, starting January 1.

“Up to 2.5 per cent of the outlay of the scheme shall be earmarked for meeting the R&D, skill development and training requirements for the development of semiconductor ecosystem in India,” it added.

The Cabinet had last week approved the comprehensive programme for the development of a sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem to position India as the global hub for electronics manufacturing, with semiconductors as the foundational building block.

The programme envisages investment of around ₹76,000 crore in semiconductor production over the next five to six years.

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