Pax Silica is about tech access, India's position is independent: IT secretary S Krishnan

IT ministry secretary S Krishnan

India’s signing of the Pax Silica agreement with the United States will help the former build advanced tech through enhanced access to technologies, IT ministry secretary S Krishnan told Moneycontrol on February 20.

Speaking to the publication on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit, where the two countries signed the agreement, which broadly aims to secure global supply chains for AI and semiconductors, Krishnan said, “I think the important thing is access to the technology and being part of that value chain.”

“It's important that the way this technology is built -- it's not as if any one country will dominate every part of that value chain. So we need to have a significantly important part in that value chain to make sure that we cannot be ignored,” Krishnan said.

The agreement, which already has nine nations onboard, was signed by Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor.

The initiative is largely seen as a US-led initiative to counter the China’s dominace over global manufacturing supply chains.

However, Krishnan dispelled that notion.

“I think it is not appropriate to say we are part of a US led block, we have always had a position which is independent and significant,” the IT secretary said.

For electronics manufacturers, Krishnan said the inclusion of India in the overall supply chain framework will prove beneficial to them, by providing enhanced access to technologies, and “helping us build advanced technology in India”.

On whether Pax Silica will help India in India moving beyond being just a talent nation, to ensuring that intellectual property remains in the country, “As far as anything that the American system or any of these systems will attempt to do, there is a respect for IP. Private sector enterprise is central to a lot of what happens and therefore having control on the IP is very important.”