PM Modi has given Rs 1,200 crore to invest in Indian semiconductor startups: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The Prime Minister has allocated a budget of Rs 1,200 crore to invest in Indian semiconductor design start-ups, and 27 domestic start-ups have already made the cut to benefit from the scheme, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said a day ahead of the 3rd SemiconIndia Roadshow.

While 23 semiconductor start-ups have already been given the approval for funding under the design-linked incentive scheme of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the names of four more will be announced tomorrow (May 12) at the roadshow in IIT-Delhi.

Two earlier roadshows have already happened in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru. As part of the efforts to give a boost to the semiconductor design industry in India, MeitY has launched a series of such roadshows across the country.

At a technology policy conference in Delhi on May 11, Chandrasekhar said that former Tesla and Apple microprocessor engineer Jim Keller is launching two semiconductor start-ups in Bengaluru, signalling that India’s efforts to become a key player in the global high-tech supply chain are bearing fruit.

The minister also said that the government's focus is to support deeptech startups in areas like artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

"We see that a big part of the digital economy pie is going towards deeptech. Much of the success of Indian startups has been because of the large Indian market as it provides access to a big consumer base," he said.

"But the narrative now has to drive towards the creation of intellectual property in India" he added.

Also read: Foreign firms like Google have to invest in Indian AI start-ups for access to country's data sets: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

India has also launched a Rs 76,000 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for semiconductors and display manufacturing units, offering to give 50 per cent of the project cost across all categories of factories as it looks to woo global players such as Intel to set up production base in India to help cut reliance on imports.

Asked about the regulation of AI in the country, Chandrasekhar said that it was still early days to regulate the technology. While the forthcoming Digital India Act, which will replace the Information Technology Act, is going to have the guardrails to prevent any user harm from AI products, there is no need to create a specific regulatory mechanism for AI.