India will consume semiconductors of around USD 70-80 billion to manufacture electronics products worth USD 300 billion by 2026 as envisaged in the government’s vision document, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said. The minister said the government will achieve the target of establishing a semiconductor ecosystem in the country based on the interest it is getting from around the globe.
“Demand for digital devices and electronics products is only going up. If you have seen our electronics vision document, we have announced a target of USD 300 billion in electronic manufacturing, with USD 120 billion in exports. Our own consumption, based on USD 300 billion electronics (production target by 2026), will be almost USD 70-80 billion of semiconductors,” he said.
The minister was speaking on the eve of announcing the first conference on setting up the semiconductor ecosystem in the country — Semicon India 2022, which will be organised by the government in Bengaluru from April 29 to May 1.
Ministry of Electronics and IT joint secretary Amitesh Sinha informed that the conference will be virtually inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chandrasekhar said he is expected to sign several memorandum of understanding with leading companies in the semiconductor space during the conference.
The government has received proposals from five companies for setting up the electronic chip and display manufacturing plants with an investment of Rs 1.53 lakh crore under the Semicon India Programme, which entailed incentives to the tune of Rs 76,000 crore. Vedanta Foxconn JV, IGSS Ventures and ISMC have proposed to set up electronic chip manufacturing plants with USD 13.6 billion investment and have sought the support of USD 5.6 billion from the Centre under the Rs 76,000 crore Semicon India Programme.
Vedanta and Elest have proposed to set up display manufacturing units — used in mobile phones, laptops etc — with a projected investment of USD 6.7 billion. They have sought the support of USD 2.7 billion from the government under the scheme for setting up display fabs in India. Chandrasekhar said the applications are being processed at the moment and declined to provide any estimated timeline for their approval.
