Subsidy for electronics manufacturers to boost electronic industry
In a move to boost electronic manufacturing in the country, the government is finalising guidelines for production-linked subsidies for companies willing to manufacture electronic items such as microprocessors, semiconductors and others within India. “We have introduced an element of production subsidy, now we are in process of finalising guidelines and since there are different kinds of projects, we are looking for specific technical inputs,” said Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), on Wednesday. The DeitY official was addressing a roundtable conference on ‘Make in India: Trade and fiscal Incentives for IT hardware and electronics industry,’ organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Stressing on the production subsidy, which is a huge differentiator with 10% of the turnover for ten years, Kumar urged the industry to come up with inputs on ‘what needs to be subsidised and how the consultants are working on it. Kumar further informed that the government is also working on fabless chip design policy, which is expected to boost chip designing in the country. With a view to strengthen the country’s IT infrastructure, the government is also formulating a project that is expected to be launched in the next three months, which would ensure fundamental facilities of education, health, skilling and others, to every connected village. Informing that the Electronic Development Fund (EDF) is getting registered under the alternative investment fund (AIF) category, the DeitY official expressed hope that a whole lot of funding and innovation requirement should be met through this ecosystem of EDF for future projects. “We are looking to expand exercise of giving direct grant to industry for research; and the Conditional Access System was one such effort. We now need to institutionalise this effort and we are trying to work in that direction, so it is not only that we give money to public sector institutions, but we also give it to the industry,” Kumar said.
December 17, 2015 | 02:37pm IST
to success.