India Semiconductor Mission

The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was established by the Union Cabinet on 15 December 2021 as a specialised and independent business division within the Digital India Corporation under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It serves as the nodal agency implementing the Semicon India Programme, for which an initial outlay of ₹76,000 crore was approved to develop a complete semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem. ISM is led by a governing council and an advisory board of global industry and academic experts, and its mandate covers the entire value chain — fabrication (fabs), display fabs, compound semiconductors, packaging (ATMP/OSAT), and chip design. The Mission flows from India's strategic objective of reducing import dependence in electronics and achieving self-reliance under the broader Atmanirbhar Bharat vision and the Make in India programme.

Operationally, ISM administers four principal incentive schemes. The first offers fiscal support of up to 50 per cent of project cost on a pari-passu basis for setting up silicon semiconductor fabs; the second extends comparable support for display fabs; the third — the scheme for compound semiconductors, silicon photonics, sensors, and ATMP/OSAT units — was enhanced to 50 per cent of capital expenditure; and the fourth is the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, which provides product design-linked and deployment-linked incentives to domestic fabless companies and startups. ISM also acts as the single-window nodal agency coordinating with state governments, which provide additional incentives, land, water, and power. The Mission collaborates with the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) Mohali and pursues international partnerships, including the India-US iCET initiative and MoUs with Japan, the EU, and the Quad supply-chain resilience efforts.

By 2026 several flagship projects had been approved. The Tata Electronics–Powerchip (PSMC) fab at Dholera, Gujarat — India's first commercial fab — was sanctioned in February 2024, alongside Tata's ATMP facility at Jagiroad, Assam, and the Micron assembly-and-test plant at Sanand, Gujarat (approved 2023). CG Power–Renesas–Stars Microelectronics and Kaynes Semicon at Sanand were also cleared, and in 2024–25 additional packaging proposals were approved, taking the cumulative project pipeline well past the original allocation, prompting discussion of an ISM 2.0 with expanded funding. The Union Budget continued to support the materials and design segments through fiscal incentives and customs-duty rationalisation.

For the UPSC examination, ISM is most relevant to GS Paper III (Science and Technology, indigenisation of technology, and developing new technology) and to the economy segment on manufacturing and self-reliance. Questions in Prelims typically probe the implementing ministry (MeitY), the parent body (Digital India Corporation), the year of launch (2021), and the names and locations of approved fabs. Mains and interview angles frequently ask candidates to analyse the strategic significance of semiconductor sovereignty for national security, the challenges of water, skilled-manpower, and supply-chain dependence, and India's positioning amid US–China technology competition and the global push for fab diversification after the COVID-era chip shortage.