ET Startup Awards 2022: At least two semiconductor fab approvals by January, says Ashwini Vaishnaw

Vaishnaw said the incentive approval in January would pave the way for the manufacture of fabs in India, a significant move forward under the government’s $10 billion programme to seed a semiconductor ecosystem in the country.

“Hopefully by first January, we would have had two proposals for setting up fabs in the country and start the construction work in the coming months,” Vaishnaw said

The government is committed to “removing all obstacles” in order to make fabs a reality in the country, he said, adding that the private CAPEX cycle has started in the country.
The Centre had announced in February this year that it had received Rs 1.53 lakh crore of proposed investments to set up semiconductor fabs and display panel factories.

In September, the government broad-based the incentive structure to make it a flat 50% fiscal support across format and nodes, including assembly and packaging factories.

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He also said that 5G will open huge opportunities and encourage new uses in areas of innovation, healthcare, and education among others. “Today we are doing about 2500 (5G) towers a week, and hopefully by January onwards we will be doing about 10,000 towers a week and by Diwali, we should see very good coverage of 5G in the country.”

Vaishnaw said that India is emerging as a “stable ship” at a time when the global economy is going through many uncertainties.

Vaishnaw, who is also the minister for Railways, said India is building the railways for the ‘aspirational generations’ with user experience being the guiding principle. Railway stations are being reimagined as city centres or cultural and commercial hubs, creating new urban spaces for the cities they serve.

The culture and heritage of the place are interwoven in the design of the railway stations, he said.

Answering a question on the provision of data transfer to trusted geographies, Vaishnaw said that the “digital economy doesn’t have a customs border, and it is seamless.”

India plays an important role when it comes to data processing in the global digital landscape and India should take advantage of this strength and “not try to isolate” itself, he said a day after his ministry put out a draft data protection bill for feedback.

“We should try and take advantage of this. The entire world’s eyes are on us as a trusted partner and for that, we have also call others as our trusted partners.”

We have to integrate with the world in a very fair and transparent manner, he added.