India launched the ambitious Semicon India Programme in December 2021 to promote semiconductor and display development in the country. The total budget outlay for the program was a hefty Rs 76,000 crore.
The program also included a Design Linked Incentive scheme, which provides financial support for the Indian companies, MSMEs and startups. The incentive outlay of Rs 1,000 crore is aimed at providing up to 50% of the financial cost to the companies, capped at Rs 15 crore.
Despite several roadblocks, the programme has achieved considerable success so far. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released a report detailing the programme’s progress so far.
Financial support programmes
The Ministry of Information and Technology (Meity) said that the Ministry has approved an amount of Rs 803.08 crore under the Design Linked Incentive programme since its inception in December 2021.
Meity says 23 companies and startups have received financial support under the DLI scheme. The companies and startups are designing semiconductor chips for applications such as microprocessors, network applications, energy meters and surveillance cameras.
Further, Meity added that the companies are at different stages of semiconductor development, and further disbursement of the funds under the scheme is subject to achieving various design and production milestones. Out of the 23 companies supported by Meity, 10 have received funding from venture capital firms to further upscale their operations.
Design support
Besides the financial support, Meity says that it helps startups and academics by providing advanced tools and access to state-of-the-art semiconductor design facilities. One such facility is the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali, where 20 chip designs were successfully fabricated by 17 academic institutions.
Meity says that as part of design support, 72 startups and 278 academic institutions are provided access to the state-of-the-art Electronic Design Automation tools and facilities.