Cabinet to approve Rs 25,000 cr scheme for semiconductor manufacturing

The Cabinet is likely to approve a Rs 25,000 crore scheme for semiconductor manufacturing in the country, ET Now reported on Wednesday. The announcement is expected to come out in the afternoon after a Cabinet meeting, which is underway, concludes.

In May, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Centre is prioritising attracting more investments in India by expanding the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes to include semiconductors and components.

Sitharaman said that India had relaxed various restrictions to ensure greater ease of doing business and draw more investments. She was interacting with business leaders on the theme of "Rising Investment Opportunities: Destination India."

In September last year, the Cabinet had approved a PLI scheme for semiconductor manufacturing in India with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore. It allowed uniform fiscal support of 50 per cent of project cost for semiconductor fabs across technology nodes and display manufacturing.

The PLI scheme also raised the fiscal support for compound semiconductors, packaging, and other semiconductor facilities to 50 per cent from 30 per cent earlier.

Earlier, incentives for semiconductor fabs were based on the size of the node — nodes from 45 nanometres (nm) to 65 nm were offered an incentive of 30 per cent of the project cost, those between 28 nm and 45 nm were offered a 40 per cent support, and only nodes from 28 nm and below were offered 50 per cent fiscal support. After the fresh changes, all fab plants were allowed to receive financial support of 50 per cent, irrespective of node size.