India's Semiconductor Mission 2.0 Aims for Long-Term Tech Policy Stability

"The announcement on the India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, I think is very timely and significant, and will ensure that the momentum which we have had, which we have built up through the India Semiconductor Mission 1.0, will get sustained for a further period of five to six years," said S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).

Speaking to the media, he stated that the second phase of the mission will build upon the momentum generated by the initial program. Krishnan noted that the Prime Minister has already indicated that support for the sector will continue into the long term, reflecting a "steady policy going forward."

The Secretary described the current fiscal roadmap as a "tech budget," stating, "In some ways, I think from METIY's perspective, we'd like to call this the tech budget. There have been a number of key announcements related to the technology sector, which will sort of lead to significant further momentum, which the sector already has."

Highlighting that outlays for electronic component manufacturing nearly doubled to Rs 40,000 crore, Krishnan emphasised that the budget enables India to potentially become a data center hub for global information.

Clarifying the taxation framework for data centers, Krishnan said, "There is an announcement in the budget that foreign entities in India will use data centers for international use. They have been given clarity on taxation. These companies do not function in India. They are foreign companies. They store their data in these data centers and send it abroad for processing."

Addressing internet governance, the Secretary highlighted the importance of the multi-stakeholder approach. "The ICANN event is about Internet Governance. There are 100 crore Internet users in India and there are 500 crore Internet users all over the world," he said, adding that discussions focus on how the internet is managed and administered globally.

The government is also in the final stages of preparing for the India AI Summit. Krishnan reported significant enthusiasm for the event, with registrations already exceeding 70,000. "We expect it to reach about 1 lakh, and there's a lot of enthusiasm not just within India but from other parts of the world as well," he said.

Krishnan concluded by noting that a series of investments are making it easier for global capability centers and electronics manufacturing units to enter the country. "The preparation is going well," he added regarding the upcoming technology summits and mission expansions.

- ANI