Saturday, February 15, 2014: In a bid to give the much-desired boost to local production of electronics, the government of India is now working to produce semiconductor chips to cut the country’s long-term import bills. It renewed the two consortia to promote the local production. The two groups were proposed to build plants in India in September, last year, that the government approved, but the process failed to materialise.
In a statement, the government of India, said that one of the consortia is made up of Jaiprakash Associates, TowerJazz and IBM. The companies plans to set up a plant near the country’s capital, New Delhi at a cost of Rs 343.99 billion
The second consortia has HSMC Technologies India, Malaysia’s Silterra and STMicroelectronics. These group of companies have proposed an investment of Rs 290.13 billion for a plant in the state of Gujarat. The final agreements for the two plants are expected to be signed by August, this year. The government is offering concessions of up to 25 per cent subsidy on the capital spending, tax breaks, and interest-free loans of about Rs 51.24 billion for each plant.
India consumes nearly $7 billion of semiconductor products, every year. By 2020, the total Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) market is expected to reach $400 billion. With the location of fabrication unit in India, the country could potentially achieve a degree of self-sufficiency in electronics, and partially reduce the high supply-chain risks that India is exposed to, without a secondary source for procurement.
