New Delhi: In a short span of time, India has attracted investment worth Rs 1.5 trillion in semiconductor manufacturing due to favourable policies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Wednesday, while exhorting the industry to “bet on India”.
Speaking at the inauguration of Semicon India 2024, which saw participation from global semiconductor giants and stakeholders, Modi said this was the right time to be in India, and this industry was also at the right place at the right time.
“Chips are never down in 21st century India. Today’s India gives the world the confidence that when the chips are down, you can bet on India,” he said. The Prime Minister also linked India’s market to a “special diode” that conducts energy in two directions and not just one—the industry invests and creates value on one hand, and on the other, the government provides stable policy and ease of doing business.
He asserted that the industry gets a “three-dimensional power” of the country’s reformist government, a growing manufacturing base and an aspirational market which has a taste for technology. “This is difficult for you to get elsewhere,” Modi said, adding that for India chips are not just technology but a medium to fulfil the aspiration of crores.
Talking about the availability of talent, Modi said India contributed 20 percent of the world’s designing capabilities. The country is working towards creating a semiconductor workforce of 85,000 technicians, engineers and R&D, he said.
Modi also pointed out that the government had taken many steps to boost semiconductor manufacturing in India, including giving 50 percent incentive to set up facilities. In addition, state governments were also giving benefits, he said.
“In a very short span of time, India has attracted investments of more than Rs 1.5 trillion in this sector only because of its policies. And, many projects are in the pipeline today,” he added.
Assuring the industry of support, the Prime Minister said, “This year, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, I had said it was our dream to have India-made chips in all global devices. India will do everything to become a semiconductor powerhouse.”
He said India’s electronics industry is pegged at over USD 150 billion, and the big aim now is to take the sector to USD 500 billion by the end of this decade.
This, he said, would create 60 lakh additional jobs for Indians, while also benefiting the semiconductor industry.
“We are aiming for 100 percent work of electronic manufacturing in India, meaning the country will make semiconductor chips as well as its finished goods. India’s semiconductor ecosystem gives a solution not just for India, but to global supply chain issues,” Modi told his audience.
The Prime Minister added that India was a part of the critical mission to add resilience to supply chains in different sectors. “We need to remember that when democratic values get attached to technology, its positive energy increases, but when democratic values are removed, technology can become fatal in no time.”
“Hence, whether it is mobile manufacturing, electronics manufacturing or semiconductor manufacturing, our focus is clear. We want to create a world which doesn’t halt even in the face of adversity, but keeps moving forward. You will also help strengthen these efforts by India,” Modi told the industry.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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