India important hub for semicon manufacturing, says Meity secretary

MeitY Secretary S Krishnan says India's growing electronics consumption, manufacturing capabilities and role in global supply-chain diversification will drive the sector

India is one of the significant countries for semiconductor manufacturing and design, said S Krishnan, secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

While delivering a keynote address on the inaugural day of Semicon India 2026, Krishnan said, “We have truly arrived in the semiconductor space and we are at a position where India is one of the important countries for the future of semiconductor manufacture, in addition to being one of the (significant) countries for semiconductor design.”

Krishnan added that India is also emerging as a major market for semiconductors.

“Given the size of India's population, we are truly at an inflection stage in terms of potential and possible consumption expenditures. You will see that consumption of a lot of electronic products using semiconductor chips is bound to go up. For a country this size, it cannot afford to be entirely dependent on manufacturing something as vital as semiconductors.”

Highlighting the concerns arising from the geopolitical crisis, Krishnan said, “Diversification of global value chains and building resilience is today as much an objective for anybody in the world as is making sure that you get products at competitive prices. One of the essential elements of competitiveness today is also resilience.”

On the need for collaboration within the ecosystem, Krishnan mentioned that the Centre is working closely with all the states in the country that are potential destinations for investments. “The state governments are working closely with us. Many of them have also promised that they will be in a position to provide at least about 50 per cent of what the government of India provides as its assistance, incentive for establishing (semicon) facilities.”

According to Krishnan, more than 40,000 people had registered for this year’s edition of Semicon India, 30 per cent of whom are overseas participants from 52 different nationalities. In addition, more than 620 exhibitors are participating, and over 300 of these are overseas companies.