Govt says will handhold investors interested in participating in India’s big leap in semiconductors

In another week, India’s IT hub Bengaluru will host the first semiconductor conference to make India a leader in semiconductor design, manufacturing and innovation. Talking about India’s readiness, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for Meity (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), told CNBC-TV18 that India's story as a semiconductor destination has many components.

“India will consume over $80 billion of semiconductors in FY25-26, digitisation of the economy is at an inflection point, there will be incentives from states for semiconductor investment, and a government task force will look at creating talent,” Chandrasekhar said.

He said an increasing diaspora wants to come and participate in India’s semiconductor mission, and many MoUs would be announced in the three days of the conference.

“We are in the midst of something unprecedented in India. Semiconductors require more than ambitions; the sector needs a policy framework that encourages innovation,” he said, adding investors need not be concerned of execution risks and tariffs as the government will handhold them.

And for achieving the vision of making India a leader in the chip space, Chandrasekhar said talent would be an important piece in the whole puzzle.

“We are aware we don't have the deep bench strength of talent and capacity needed to get this going. So, we have created a task force. We will create talent at three levels - the semiconductor research piece, the semiconductor design, innovation, and manufacturing piece, and supervisory talent required for all of the industries, including packaging and testing,” he said.

PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate India's first global semiconductor conference on April 29

Chandrasekhar said India would grow from $70 billion to over $300-350 billion in electronics manufacturing in the next four years.

Rajeev Khushu, the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) chairperson, said India needs to focus on design aspects for semiconductors.

“Most procured semiconductors come as kits from China, Taiwan, or Korea. The reason is that designs aren’t happening in the country. We need to incentivise designs which come out of India because that will bring stickiness of manufacturing in the country,” Khushu said.

Vinod Dham, the founder of IndoUS Venture Partners, said India was very committed to the semiconductor mission.

“We just need to bring in a partner to help us get started, who already has gone through 50 years of learning because we can't just overnight make up for lack of 50 years of learning,” Dham said.

Also Read: India can augment global supply chains for semiconductors, says US SIA

“So, picking and carefully choosing who we are going to partner with, to set up our fabs here in India, I think is probably one job most important job for us,” Dham said, adding partners should bring in all the wealth of knowledge of how to build the fabs.

Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), said India is going through a tipping point and has grown from 0 to $550 billion in revenues in the ICE industry.