According to reports, the Centre has formed three subcommittees to assess the multibillion-dollar proposals received as part of its ambitious India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and hopes to accept the first applications “soon.”
Five consortiums that sought incentives under the ISM’s $10 billion package—including Vedanta-Foxconn, Next Orbit Ventures-Tower Semiconductor (now acquired by Intel), and Rajesh Exports—are seeking official approval to establish semiconductor fabrication plants.
Members of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), according to sources familiar with the situation, are a part of one of the subcommittees that will thrash out the ideas.
According to them, three domain experts have been selected for the third subcommittee, which was formed from the ISM’s 21-member expert group and a second committee made up of members of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
The committees are rating the proposals based on a variety of factors, such as the partners’ financial capacity, technical proficiency, and viability.
The government is carefully assessing the proposals on all fronts because these are “multi-billion dollar projects and will mean big incentives from the Centre as well as states, the government is very carefully evaluating the proposals on all aspects,” according to the sources. “Ultimately, we have to ensure that the applicants have made all the arrangements. The Cabinet has to be convinced about their viability but before that, it has to be convinced about all aspects,” an official said.
The Center’s push for semiconductor production comes amid supply chain problems on a worldwide scale that are fueling demand for new fab units, as well as for strategic and national security concerns. It had previously stated that applications for ISM incentives will be approved by October.
The third subcommittee’s recommendations and those of the 21-member expert group will subsequently be presented to the government for approval by the cabinet.
The government established a 21-person expert group for the ISM in April, with the MeitY secretary serving as a convener, IT minister Vaishnaw serving as chairman, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar serving as vice-chairperson.
Vinod Dham, the creator of the Intel Pentium and an investor in startups, Ajit Manocha, the head of the US industry group SEMI, and Neelkanth Mishra from Credit Suisse are a few examples of the industry experts on the panel.
For India to become a significant center for semiconductor production, a few issues must be resolved, according to Muthukrishnan Chinnasamy, CEO of Semiconductor Fabless Accelerator Lab (SFAL). Due to the delicate and sophisticated nature of the production process, industrial plants may require regular supplies of electricity and water. Companies must collaborate effectively in terms of technology, strategy, and customer devotion.
To continually innovate in a market that is expanding swiftly, Chinnasamy continued, Indian government organizations and private firms may “need to invest billions of dollars” over an extended period.
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