'India should be the destination for semiconductors': Union Minister Vaishnaw at Davos
Jan 19, 2023
Davos-Klosters [Switzerland], January 19 : Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday batted for India's growing semiconductor industry at World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
Answering a question on India's bid to build a semiconductor industry in the country, Ashwini said, "Electronics manufacturing which was practically negligible 10 years back is today a significantly large industry. The supply chain is shifting to the country. Sector after sector, we are getting from import substitution to export-led growth."
"Three years from now India will be a large telecom equipment exporter. All the pieces are well set and the development is very good. A couple of countries have started exporting to countries like the US. So there is a very large market where the semiconductor is required as the basic raw material," the minister said at the WEF session on semiconductors.
Ashwini Vaishnaw also spoke about the competitive talent pool in India that is working on the leading technology. Another factor that minster noted was the significant number of engineers being produced by India every year.
"Our university system is producing 500,000 engineers every year. We have tailored our entire plans to make sure that this uncertainty system generates a significantly large number of talent. We have committed to developing 85,000 talents over the next 10 years," he said.
Ashwini Vaishnaw argued that it "is natural that India should be the destination for semiconductors."
"The government is putting in USD 10 billion and that is just the first tranche. We fully understand that this cannot be done in a quarter or two or a year. This is a long haul and will require persistence. It wil require lots and lots of effort," he added.
Answering the question of whether this is an appropriate time to invest in semiconductors, the minister said "this kind of ups and down has been seen in this industry for quite some time."
He stressed that the global demand for semiconductors is going to be huge in the future.
"It took the semiconductor industry 60 years to grow to USD 550 billion, it's going to be USD 1 trillion in six years. So that is the kind of growth that is happening," he added.
