India is developing indigenous chipsets for close-circuit (CCTV) cameras amongst other integral applications as part of its broader push towards trusted, self-reliant electronics manufacturing, said Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday.
“Under the Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) programme, we have already developed complete chipsets for CCTV cameras. Over a period of time, we shall aim that the requirement for these chipsets are fulfilled from within the country,” Vaishnaw told mediapersons.
Setting a timeline of one and a half years for this step towards self-reliance, the minister said the initiative is part of the government’s effort to secure India’s electronics supply chain.
He said similar steps are being taken in the mobile phone ecosystem. The government is working to ensure that within two years, phones are equipped with a NavIC chipset, which is an indigenous navigation satellite system developed as an alternative to GPS. “In the next two years, the plan is that every phone should have either NavIC or GPS plus NavIC,” he said.
The minister also said the country is developing a complete mobile phone chipset, covering all components from printed circuit boards (PCBs) to processors, to ensure end-to-end security.
The government plans to have a indigenously designed and produced chipset with intellectual property (IP) rights.
Vaishnaw added that the government has sanctioned ? 200 crore for a joint team from IBM and IIT Madras to develop an indigenous server-grade microprocessor designed to be highly energy-efficient.
The minister had earlier highlighted on the broader momentum in electronics, noting that production has grown six-fold and exports eight-fold in the past decade. He pointed to India’s vibrant startup ecosystem in chip design, which is increasingly producing intellectual property embedded in products by leading global manufacturers.
Launched in December 2021 under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), the Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme aims to strengthen India’s semiconductor design ecosystem by supporting domestic companies in developing integrated circuits (ICs), chipsets, system-on-chips (SoCs), and intellectual property (IP) cores within the country.