Minister of Communications and IT and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw pegged India to become one of the top seven semiconductor manufacturers in the next five to six years. Speaking at the National Stock Exchange, Mumbai, as part of Viksit Bharat Ambassador series – Vaishnaw said on Thursday: “The semiconductor industry is a new industry in the country. But within a short period of time, by 2029 or 2030, we will be amongst the top seven semiconductor manufacturing nations in the world.”

As part of India’s semiconductor subsidy scheme, India has extended fiscal support to four projects so far. After Micron’s ATMP facility in Gujarat, two projects by Tata Electronics and another ATMP proposal by India-based CG Power in partnership with Japan based Renasas received subsidy approval earlier this year. Projects in the pipeline that could get approval after the elections include Tower Semiconductor, an Israel-based company expected to set up a semiconductor fab as well as Foxconn-HCL Tech that announced a joint venture in January to set up a semiconductor OSAT in India. 

Made in India chips

Speaking to the investors Vaishnaw claimed, “global brands across the world will soon be deploying made in India chips in their cars, smartphone devices and other products.”

Also read: Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu could foray into semiconductor market with an investment of $700 million 

The Minister further said manufacturing will be one of the pillar’s for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Viksit Bharat” vision, harkening India’s production linked incentive scheme for bringing high quality jobs for young Indians. Recently businessline published a report which found that despite the implementation of the subsidy scheme for smartphone makers, which excluded subsidies for Chinese smartphones in particular, three quarters of Indian smartphone buyers continue to buy Chinese devices. This number has not budged at all in the last five years. 

Responding to this paper’s report Vaishnaw said: “In April 2024, Apple exported Rs 10,000 crore worth of iPhones from this country. It shows that we have to move away from an import substitution mindset, to a mindset of export led growth. The entire world is our market. We need to become a manufacturer who is trusted, a reliable manufacturer, who respects IPR, who believes in training, who believes in technology upgradation and then supply to the entire world.”

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