Thursday, June 19, 2014: In a bid to boost the development of Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector across the country, the BJP-led NDA Government at the centre has identified eight cities that will see the creation of relevant facilities in the days to come. The government of India will deem these facilities as eligible for incentives, including subsidy, informed Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Further, the Minister informed that the Government is looking to set up seven greenfield electronic manufacturing clusters as also promote the development and nurturing of chip-making facilities across the country. “Electronic manufacturing is going to be the key area of my priority. It is very much employment-based sector. We can give employment to 28 million people,” Prasad was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, the Government will also refund the capital expenditure for new units or for expansion of over 25 per cent of existing capacity in certain greenfield or brownfield electronics manufacturing clusters, under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS) of July 2012. Products covered under the scheme range from raw material, components, design and chip, assembly, testing to R&D and packaging. A budget of Rs 1,00,000 million has been allocated by the Government for M-SIPS under the 12th Five-Year Plan. “We have selected eight new areas for M-SIPS. We have selected Ghaziabad, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Nagpur, Nasik, Aurangabad and Thane. If someone sets up an electronic manufacturing facility here, they will be given subsidy,” Prasad added.
The Government is also looking to promote semiconductor fab facilities in the country. Earlier in February, the Government approved the setting up of two semiconductor wafer fabrication (fab) manufacturing facilities in the country. “Promoting semiconductor fab facility is very important. We have decided that we will promote fab manufacturing facility,” Prasad said.
