India’s semiconductor push moved into a higher gear on Friday, with the government opening the Semicon 2.0 portal and clearing 12 new electronics manufacturing projects worth Rs 7,503 crore in a single day. The twin announcements, made by Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in New Delhi on November 6, signal that the second phase of the Semicon India Programme is now open for business, and that the focus has shifted from assembling devices to making the parts, materials and machines that go inside them.
For a country that still imports most of its chips and components, the timing matters. The 12 newly approved projects are expected to generate production worth Rs 39,045 crore and create 7,127 direct jobs, spread across Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. And this time, the approvals reach deeper into the supply chain than before, covering not just components but the raw materials and capital goods that factories need to run.
What the 12 new approvals cover
The approvals come under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme, or ECMS, and they span 10 target product segments. Four of them are component categories: multi-layer printed circuit boards, relays, heat sinks and specialty ceramics. Manufacturing approvals in these segments have gone to NeST ICELR, TDConnex (Chennai), Modern Automotives and Voltix Semicon respectively.
Five more approvals cover supply chain materials. Indo Asia Copper will make copper foil, a key input for copper-clad laminates used in printed circuit boards and lithium-ion cells. TACC has been cleared for anode material for lithium-ion cells, while Vidyuta Materials will produce cathode active material. Enerfolie will make polypropylene film for capacitor-grade dielectric use, and Surface Modification Technologies will manufacture camera rims.
The remaining approvals target capital goods, the equipment side of the industry. TDConnex (Chennai) will make precision moulds and tooling, Rockwell Automation India will build power and control systems for capital equipment, and Wipro Pari Robotics will supply capital equipment for factory automation and system integration.
Three of these are firsts for the scheme. Copper foil, cathode active material and specialty ceramics have never been approved under ECMS before, which widens the range of upstream materials now set to be made in India rather than imported.
Semicon 2.0: what is open now
Alongside the approvals, Vaishnaw launched the Semicon 2.0 web application portal, the front door for the second phase of the Semicon India Programme. The Union Cabinet has approved Semicon 2.0 with a financial outlay of Rs 1,27,500 crore under the India Semiconductor Mission.
The programme rests on six strategic pillars: chip design, machines and materials, additional fabrication facilities, expansion of the ATMP and OSAT industry, research and development, and talent development. With the portal launch, applications have opened for three of them: machines and materials, setting up additional semiconductor fabrication facilities, and strengthening the assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP) and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) industry.
Vaishnaw said Semicon 2.0 would give particular attention to equipment, materials, chemicals and gases, with a target of attracting at least three major equipment manufacturers and five companies in chemicals and gases to India. He stressed that quality, technological depth, research and development, and global competitiveness must guide project selection.
118 projects, Rs 5.73 lakh crore of production
The latest approvals take the total under ECMS to 118 applications, covering 34 products across 16 states. Before this round, 106 applications involving investments of Rs 69,548 crore had already been cleared. With all 118 projects counted together, the scheme now envisages total investment of Rs 77,051 crore, projected production worth Rs 5,73,146 crore and direct employment for 81,755 people.
Vaishnaw also pointed to progress on the ground. Under the first phase of the Semicon India Programme, 12 projects were approved across six states with cumulative investments of more than Rs 1.64 lakh crore, and five of those projects had started commercial production by October 2026.
He said India’s electronics manufacturing sector had moved beyond assembly towards a comprehensive domestic value chain covering modules, components, materials and advanced technologies. Domestic capabilities in battery cells, copper foils, copper-clad laminates and high-end printed circuit boards are growing, he said, and nearly 50 per cent of the units approved under the scheme are micro, small and medium enterprises.
Design talent and startups get a boost too
The minister also underlined the design side of the mission. As many as 105 startups have been given access to electronic design automation tools, 24 have received funding support and 15 have secured venture capital funding. Under the Chips to Startup programme, 332 institutions have been provided design tools and around 70,000 students have been trained.
Electronics production in India has grown sharply over the past decade, from Rs 1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 13.11 lakh crore in 2025-26, according to an official factsheet released in September. The question now is whether the next decade can be built on domestic components rather than imported ones, and the Semicon 2.0 portal is where that bet will be tested.
FAQs
What is Semicon 2.0?
Semicon 2.0 is the second phase of the Semicon India Programme, approved by the Union Cabinet with an outlay of Rs 1,27,500 crore. It covers six pillars, from chip design and fabrication to research and talent development, and its application portal opened on November 6, 2026.
How much investment do the 12 new ECMS approvals involve?
The 12 projects involve a projected investment of Rs 7,503 crore. They are expected to generate production worth Rs 39,045 crore and create 7,127 direct jobs across seven states.
What is ECMS?
The Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme incentivises domestic production of electronic components, materials and capital goods, with the aim of reducing import dependence and deepening India’s electronics supply chain. With the latest round, 118 applications have been approved under it.
Which states will host the new projects?
The 12 approved projects are spread across Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
Which pillars of Semicon 2.0 are open for applications?
Applications have opened for three of the six pillars: machines and materials, additional semiconductor fabrication facilities, and strengthening the ATMP and OSAT industry.
India’s chip ambitions have been talked about for years. With the Semicon 2.0 portal live and 12 more projects cleared in a single day, the test now shifts from announcements to factory floors, and the next few months will show how quickly these approvals turn into production lines.
