India to offer more incentives to lure companies in semiconductors push

India on Friday said it will expand its incentives for those investing in semiconductor manufacturing, as its government woos global companies in a bid to become a key player in the global supply chain for chips.

A $10-billion incentive plan to attract semiconductor and display makers has drawn applications from companies such as a joint venture between Indian conglomerate Vedanta and Taiwan's Foxconn, and Singapore's IGSS Ventures.

"After this first tranche gets utilised, we definitely will go for more," the country's IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an address at India's first semiconductor conference in the southern city of Bengaluru.

"We have appetite for more, we have need for more."

The Indian semiconductor market, worth $15 billion in 2020, is estimated to reach $63 billion by 2026, the government says.

Even as more firms and countries seek to ensure access to the chips at the core of critical technologies such as 5G and those of the future, the world's chip market is dominated by manufacturers in Taiwan, the United States and few other countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Bengaluru conference India wanted to emerge as a key player in global semiconductor supply chains, urging companies to consider setting up. The push is part of Modi's flagship "Make in India" project.

Part of the government's efforts to attract big ticket investments, the three-day meeting has drawn executives of tech giants Intel, TSMC and Micron Technology Inc.

At the event, India's junior IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the world's leading majors were "actively engaged in exploring the India opportunity".

In the race to become India's first chip maker, Vedanta is seeking incentives such as 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of free land, as part of its $20-billion foray into semiconductors and displays, Reuters reported on Thursday.