The secretary added that India has room for over 3-4 large investments in the display fab manufacturing area
Amid rising interests from various global and Indian companies to set up a fabless display manufacturing plant in the country, the government is finally looking to devise an incentive scheme within the next six months to draw 3-4 large investments in the sector.
A report by The Economic Times quoted Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), saying during a virtual industry summit, “Both international and major Indian entities have come forward to expressing interest of various kind…and we are hopeful that we would be able to take this process forward.”
“Based on what we get from the expressions of interest that we have received and the extensive discussions that we have had with all the major players in this space over the past three months…we will attempt to come out with a scheme or incentive structure based on which we will then invite proposals to set up such manufacturing within India..within the next six months,” Sawhney added.
Indian companies have repeatedly requested the government to aid the development of fabless companies in the country, adding that such a step is crucial for etching India in the global market.
As per a report by ICEA titled ‘Creation of a Display Industry in India’, India should focus on two types of display fabs, namely, Gen 6 fabs for smartphone displays, and Gen 8.5 fabs for all other product categories.
“A typical LCD or OLED display fab for flat panel display with a capacity of 100,000 mother glass per month would require an investment of somewhere between $1.5-2 billion while a Gen-6 fab would need around $3-4 billion,” said G. Rajeswaran, Director & CEO, Grantwood Technologies.
Localising display manufacturing would create value-addition in India of greater than $11 billion annually from the fifth year, create export opportunities of up to $10 billion and create employment to the tune of 200,000 new jobs, ICEA said.
Experts said that because display technologies evolve within 7-8 years, companies investing in India will need strong R&D activity to support the evolving manufacturing processes.
