Concerned over increasing imports of electronic goods, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has made a case for boosting hardware manufacturing to reduce dependence on imported items.
“IT sector had a skewed growth. In IT enabled services, we are a global leader but we have a huge dependence on imports of electronic goods. That has to be urgently addressed and India has to start making its own chips,” Mr. Sharma told PTI .
According to industry experts, India’s electronic imports may surpass its oil import bill by 2030. The imports are at USD 33 billion at present, behind crude oil and gold.
India consumes semiconductor products worth about $ 7 billion every year. By 2020, this is expected to increase to $ 55 billion.
Mr. Sharma said that in order to boost manufacturing in the sector, the government has approved two major chip fabrication projects.
“...the consortium both led by the US companies have been sanctioned, which involved subsidies which the government of India will give for chip fabrication to about Rs. 27,000 crore,” he said.
He also said that the government has approved an IT Investment Region (ITIR) near Bangalore.
The region has been categorised as a National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ), which enjoys incentives under the National Manufacturing Policy (NMP).
“It is called the ITIR and that has been given categorised as NIMZ so that all the benefits that flow from NMP to NIMZ are available to them,” Mr. Sharma added.
The ITIR is a joint initiative by the central and state governments to attract investments in the IT, IT Enabled Services and Electronic Hardware Manufacturing space.
It would be an integrated IT township with world-class facilities and feature residential, social, educational and health infrastructure.
The project is expected to generate 12 lakh direct jobs and offer indirect employment to 28 lakh. As per estimates, the total investment is expected to be $ 20 billion by the year 2030.
Under NMP, the government will provide fiscal incentives to the industry, particularly to the small and medium enterprises. For NIMZ, the government is offering a host of incentives like exemption from capital gains tax and a liberalised labour and environment norms to promote these zones.
