SEMICONDUCTOR POLICY LOGS RS 40,000-CRORE COMMITMENT

Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee, New Delhi
The Hindu Business Line

The Government has now received cumulative investment commitment worth almost Rs 40,000 crore under the scheme to promote semiconductor fabs and other micro and nano technology units.

While three companies had applied earlier, two more firms – Signet Solar and KSK Surya Photovoltaic Venture Pvt Ltd – have submitted applications to avail themselves of the incentives under the policy. The investment proposals of the two new applicants add up to nearly Rs 19,000 crore.

While Signet Solar’s proposal entails Rs 9,000 crore investment blueprint to manufacture solar photovoltaic modules, KSK has outlined about Rs 10,000 crore investment plan, senior Government officials said.

When contacted, M. Madhavan Nambiar, Additional Secretary in the IT Department, said; “All the five applications taken together, entail combined investments to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore. We are examining various proposals and expect other companies to apply soon.” However, the two companies could not be reached for comments.

Earlier Moser Baer, Videocon and Titan Energy had submitted formal applications to the Government, with combined investment value touching Rs 20,000 crore. Moser Baer plans to manufacture solar pholovoltaic cells/modules, Titan Energy Systems would start with solar cells and modules project and get into wafer and poly-silicon, at a later stage. The proposal by Videocon pertains to an LCD unit.

Sources said that the IT Department was also receiving many informal enquiries from semiconductor and PV players - industry biggies including Suzlon, Reliance, Solar Semiconductor, and Tatas are some of the companies that have approached the Government on this. Others such as Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC) have already gone public about their plans to jump onto the semiconductor bandwagon.

Under the Special Incentive Package Scheme unveiled last year to encourage investments in establishing semiconductor fabs and other micro and nano technology manufacturing industries, the Centre has announced capital subsidy for investors. On offer is an incentive of 20 percent of the capital expenditure during the first 10 years for the units within special economic zone (SEZ), and 25 percent of the capital expenditure for non-SEZ units.

Incentives have also been rolled out for setting up of manufacturing facilities for liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic light emitting diodes (OLED), plasma display panels, photo-voltaic cells, storage devices, solar cells and micro and nano technology products, including assembly and testing of these products. The effort is aimed at placing the country in the league of hardware destinations such as Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Singapore.