The minister said India had tripled its electronics production over the past four years, while many in the industry were sceptical that they had missed the train
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar is bullish on the growth of India’s electronics ecosystem as he envisages the country to become a manufacturing hub for semiconductor design, engineering research & design (R&D) solutions, and electronic manufacturing services in five to seven years.
Speaking at Microsoft’s Future Ready conference, Chandrasekhar said that there is a whole new layering of opportunities on top of what the country’s core capabilities were over the last 15-20 years.
Chandrasekhar added that the next wave of computing performance is going to come from software optimisation, semiconductor design, electronic systems design, and innovation.
“… We were software providers and now we can, in the next five to seven years, be software providers, we can be semi-conductor design providers. We can be ER&D providers, we can be electronic systems, design providers, and we can be electronics, manufacturing services providers.
In December last year, the Centre approved the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) with a Rs 76,000 crore incentive scheme for the development of semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country.
The scheme will be spread across 6 years. As part of the scheme, incentives worth Rs 2.3 lakh crore will be provided to position India as a global hub.
The minister said India had tripled its electronics production over the past four years, while many in the industry were sceptical that they had missed the train.
According to Chandrasekhar, there has been a paradigm shift and the most important element of that paradigm shift is that the world’s world’s technology consuming countries are accelerating their digitalisation.
“They want to source digital products and services from countries and supply chains that they can trust. I think the world is seeking to diversify their value chains and supply chains. That is exactly where India finds itself,” he stressed.
According to government estimates, the Indian semiconductor market was worth Rs 1.13 trillion in 2020, and is expected to touch Rs 4.73 trillion by 2026.
