NASHIK: The government has approved an Rs. 76,000-crore scheme to boost semiconductor and display manufacturing in the country in a bid to position India as a global hub for hi-tech production and attract large chip makers. The scheme charts out a plan for skilling and training 85,000 high-quality engineers and works out a roadmap for the next 20 years.
Earlier, Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress President Satyajeet Tambe had written a letter to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urging him to select Nashik for the semiconductor hub. The Modi government then approved the scheme on Wednesday.
The move would further India’s ambitions to be self-reliant in electronics manufacturing, bring massive investments and result in 35,000 specialised jobs apart from indirect employment for one lakh people. In the current geopolitical scenario, trusted sources of semiconductors and displays hold strategic importance and are key to the security of critical information infrastructure.
Under Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, support will be provided to 100 domestic companies of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design. The DLI scheme will offer an incentive of up to 50 per cent of eligible expenditure and a product deployment linked incentive of 6-4 per cent on net sales for five years.
An independent ‘India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)’ will be set up to drive the long-term strategies for developing sustainable semiconductors and display ecosystem in the country.
India is looking to push electronics manufacturing to USD 300 billion in the coming six years from USD 75 billion now, and semiconductor chips are a crucial part of that ecosystem.
Why Nashik ?
Nashik is the best place for semiconductor fab because Nashik has abundant water, skilled manpower, roads, railways and airways connectivity to major cities like Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Aurangabad. Noting that the network of auto and allied industries is excellent in Nashik, Youth Congress president Satyajit Tambe has asked Union Minister Piyush Goyal to select Nashik district for this plant. Samruddhi Mahamarg, as well as Nashik-Pune Semi High Speed Railway project makes Nashik a suitable place for this semiconductor factory and through it the expected employment generation and development of Nashik and North Maharashtra is possible.
Centre for two semiconductor fabs in country
The government is looking at least two greenfield semiconductor fabs and two display fabs in the country, while at least 15 units of Compound Semiconductors and Semiconductor Packaging are expected to be established with government support under this scheme.
Severe crunch
The semiconductor scheme also comes at a time when the world is witnessing a severe crunch of semiconductors, a key component used in cars to electronic devices. The supply has been disrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many production centres to close intermittently.
