Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2667 actions· ✨ 89 recent

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved on 5 May 2026 two new semiconductor manufacturing units under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) Phase 1: Crystal Matrix Limited (CML) — India's first GaN-based compound-semiconductor and Mini/Micro-LED display fabrication facility (INR 3,068 crore, Dholera, Gujarat) and Suchi Semicon Private Limited (SSPL) — an OSAT facility for discrete semiconductors (INR 868 crore, Surat, Gujarat). Cumulative investment INR 3,936 crore (~USD 400mn); 2,230 skilled jobs at full ramp. This constitutes the 12th and final batch of ISM Phase 1 approvals, closing the first-phase envelope before ISM 2.0 (filed 2026-02-01) takes over.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched the Gujarat Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy 2026–2031 on 1 March 2026 at the SemiConnect 2026 Conference in Gandhinagar, establishing a five-year ₹1,000 crore Swadeshi Anusandhan Fund (Indigenous Innovation Fund) for domestic R&D across strategic sectors including AI, semiconductors, quantum technologies, biotechnology, green energy, and defence. The policy targets state STI expenditure of 1% of GSDP by 2030, creation of 1 lakh skilled research professionals, 1,000+ IP filings annually, and builds three Gujarat Rajya Research and Innovation Cluster (GRRIC) corridors to anchor the state's growing semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem.

On 1 February 2026 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting the Union Budget 2026-27, announced the launch of India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 — the second-phase national semiconductor industrial-policy framework succeeding ISM 1.0 (2021, INR 76,000 crore). The Budget makes an initial INR 1,000 crore provision for ISM 2.0 in FY 2026-27 and raises the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) outlay from INR 22,919 crore to INR 40,000 crore. ISM 2.0's distinct architecture centres on four strategic priorities not in ISM 1.0: (i) indigenous semiconductor equipment, chemicals, gases and materials production, (ii) full-stack Indian semiconductor IP design, (iii) industry-led R&D and skills/training centres, and (iv) domestic and global supply-chain integration. Total mission outlay reported as approximately INR 1-1.2 lakh crore (~USD 12-14bn) is being finalised; Cabinet clearance and the formal scheme launch are expected by mid-2026.

The Government of Rajasthan approved its first dedicated semiconductor industrial policy on 21 January 2026, offering a layered incentive stack on top of India's national Semiconductor Mission (ISM). The policy covers fab, ATMP, OSAT, compound semiconductors (SiC, GaN), display fabs, sensors, power electronics, PCBs, and fabless design, with investment-classification tiering (large / mega / ultra-mega categories). Key incentives include a 60% top-up on any ISM capital subsidy received, a 5% interest subsidy on term loans, 100% electricity duty exemption for seven years, 75% stamp duty and land conversion charges exemption, and SGST reimbursements. The official policy document was publicly released on 24 March 2026 via the Rising Rajasthan portal.

India's Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways notified operational guidelines on 26 December 2025 for two paired shipbuilding subsidy schemes with a combined outlay of ₹44,700 crore (~USD 5.4bn). SBFAS (₹24,736 crore corpus) provides 15–25% per-vessel financial assistance tiered by vessel category, with milestone-linked disbursement and a 40% scrap-value credit for vessels broken at Indian yards. SbDS (₹19,989 crore outlay) funds greenfield shipbuilding clusters, brownfield-yard modernisation, and establishment of an India Ship Technology Centre. Both schemes are valid to 31 March 2036 with an in-principle extension to 2047, with applicability for shipbuilding contracts signed from 24 September 2025. On 7 January 2026 the guidelines were amended to include chemical tankers under SBFAS Category-1.

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 via Gazette notification G.S.R. 846(E) on 13 November 2025, operationalising the 2023 DPDP Act. The Rules introduce a "negative list" cross-border personal-data transfer regime under Rule 14, verifiable parental consent, breach-notification windows, and tiered penalties up to INR 250 crore. Implementation is phased: Data Protection Board provisions in force on notification, Consent Manager rules from 13 Nov 2026, and core data-fiduciary / cross-border-transfer obligations from 13 May 2027.

India's Ministry of Defence signed a Rs 2,095.70 crore (~$236.4m) contract with state-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) for INVAR laser-guided anti-tank missiles to arm the Indian Army's T-90 tank fleet, procured under the 'Buy (Indian)' category which mandates domestic-content/localisation thresholds rather than open international tender. Global Trade Alert logs the measure as a "public procurement localisation" intervention that displaces potential foreign suppliers (tracked as Belgium, Israel and Italy) from competing for the contract. The deal is framed by MoD as an Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance) milestone, with BDL having progressively localised guidance and propulsion subsystems originally licensed from Russian technology.

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued Notification No. 31/2025-26 on 23 September 2025, revising Appendix-3 of Schedule-II of the ITC(HS) Export Policy to add a new Category 7 — "Certain Emerging Technologies and related items" — to the SCOMET (Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technologies) list. Category 7 brings under export-licence control: quantum-computing systems (≥34 qubits with controlled error rates), cryogenic CMOS integrated circuits, advanced lithography tools (≤45 nm minimum resolvable feature), additive-manufacturing equipment under vacuum, and related software/technology. The notification took effect 30 days from issuance, on 23 October 2025, and is the first new SCOMET category created since the list's last major restructure, aligning India's strategic-trade-control regime with parallel US BIS, Wassenaar Arrangement, and EU dual-use list updates.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved on 12 August 2025 four new semiconductor manufacturing units under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) Phase 1: SiCSem Private Limited (Silicon Carbide compound-semiconductor fab, Odisha, with UK partner Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd.), 3D Glass Solutions Inc. (advanced glass-substrate packaging, Odisha), Continental Device India Private Limited / CDIL (discrete power-semiconductor expansion, Punjab), and Advanced System in Package Technologies / ASIP (OSAT unit with South Korea's APACT Co. Ltd, Andhra Pradesh). Cumulative investment INR 4,600 crore (~USD 525mn); 2,034 skilled jobs at full ramp. This brought total approved ISM Phase 1 projects to 10 across 6 states, with cumulative committed investment of approximately INR 1.60 lakh crore (~USD 18bn).

On 1 July 2025 India's Union Cabinet approved the Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme, a six-year, ₹1,00,000 crore (≈USD 11.68 bn) fund to catalyse private-sector investment in research, development and innovation, with ₹20,000 crore allocated for FY2025-26. The scheme finances transformative RDI projects (TRL 4 and above) in strategic and sunrise sectors — deep tech, AI, biotechnology, quantum computing, robotics, space, energy transition and the digital economy — through long-tenor, low-or-nil-interest loans and equity, up to 50% of assessed project cost. Grants and short-term loans are explicitly excluded. Funds flow through a Special Purpose Fund under ANRF (first-level) to second-level fund managers — Alternate Investment Funds, Development Finance Institutions, NBFCs, and focused research bodies including the Technology Development Board (TDB) and BIRAC — which began issuing project calls in February 2026.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel announced the Gujarat Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 2025 (GECMP-2025) on 22 June 2025, making Gujarat the first Indian state with a dedicated sectoral stack-on-top instrument to the central Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) notified by MeitY on 28 March 2025. Under GECMP-2025, any project approved by MeitY under ECMS and physically located in Gujarat is eligible for a state-matched fiscal incentive equal to the central incentive (PLI / capex subsidy) disbursed under ECMS, released by the state within 30 days of the central tranche. The policy targets INR 35,000 cr in new investment and covers multi-layer / HDI printed circuit boards, lithium-ion cells, SMD passive components, display modules, camera modules, sub-assemblies and the capital machinery required for their production. A separate R&D track provides up to INR 12.5 cr per Gujarat-based recognised institution to establish Centres of Excellence, Finishing Schools or Applied Research Laboratories. Initial applications closed 31 July 2025.

The Tamil Nadu Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, cleared the Tamil Nadu Space Industrial Policy 2025 on 17 April 2025, with the policy text published by TIDCO in May 2025. The policy targets INR 10,000 crore (~USD 1.2bn) in space-sector investment over five years and 10,000 jobs, anchored around four designated Space Bays in Madurai, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, and Virudhunagar. Key instruments include a INR 500 crore Tamil Nadu Emerging Sector Seed Fund (TNESSF) for space-sector startups, payroll subsidies for R&D and Global Capability Centre operators, and a TIDCO–IN-SPACe MoU to coordinate manufacturing and research facilitation. The policy operationalises the Union Indian Space Policy 2023 (ISP-2023) at the state level and establishes Tamil Nadu as a third space-sector sub-national policy node alongside Karnataka and Gujarat.

The Union Cabinet approved the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) on 28 March 2025, notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) via Gazette Notification CG-DL-E-08042025-262341 on 8 April 2025. The scheme has an original outlay of Rs 22,919 crore (~USD 2.7bn) over six years (FY26-FY31, with an optional one-year gestation period), raised to Rs 40,000 crore in the Union Budget 2026-27. ECMS targets passive components, multi-layer PCBs, lithium-ion battery cells, camera modules, display assembly, electromechanicals, bare-component sub-assemblies and capital equipment for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing -- the ecosystem feeding the existing large-scale-electronics PLI and the India Semiconductor Mission. The scheme targets investment of Rs 59,350 crore, production of Rs 4,56,500 crore and 91,600 direct jobs.

The Government of Karnataka, Department of Industries and Commerce, notified the Karnataka Industrial Policy 2025-30 in the Karnataka Gazette on 11 February 2025, with the policy taking legal effect from 8 February 2025 and valid for five years (or until superseded). It supersedes the prior Karnataka Industrial Policy 2020-25. The umbrella state-level framework targets ₹7.5 lakh crore (~USD 90 bn) in fresh investment and 20 lakh (2 million) new jobs by 2030, positioning Karnataka as a top-Asia destination for high-technology manufacturing — semiconductors, EVs, aerospace, defence, biotech, medical devices, textiles and renewable energy. It introduces zone-based incentive categorisation (Zone 1/2/3 district classification), capital subsidies, stamp-duty exemption, electricity-tax exemption, interest subsidy, ESDM-specific top-up incentives that layer onto central PLI/ECMS/Semicon Mission schemes, and a Cabinet Sub-Committee under the Chief Minister to sanction bespoke "Anchor Investor" and "Mega/Ultra-Mega" customised incentive packages.

On 1 February 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the National Manufacturing Mission (NMM) in the Union Budget 2025-26 as a horizontal umbrella framework extending the 2014 "Make in India" architecture across small, medium and large industries. The mission rests on five focal areas: (i) ease and cost of doing business; (ii) a future-ready workforce for in-demand jobs; (iii) a vibrant and dynamic MSME sector; (iv) availability of technology; and (v) quality manufacturing. It will deliver policy support, execution roadmaps, and a governance/monitoring framework binding central ministries with states. NMM specifically commits to building a clean-tech manufacturing ecosystem with explicit coverage of solar PV cells, EV batteries, motors and controllers, electrolysers, wind turbines, very-high-voltage transmission equipment, and grid-scale batteries — i.e., the full hardware stack for India's Panchamrit (500 GW non-fossil by 2030), FAME-III EV ramp, and National Green Hydrogen Mission. NMM is the first horizontal Indian manufacturing-mission instrument in the IPTM register; existing IND entries are sector-specific PLIs (electronics, batteries, steel, semiconductors) and the National Critical Mineral Mission. Operational rollout flows through subsequent Cabinet-level scheme approvals (e.g. Biopharma SHAKTI ₹10,000 cr, Chemical Parks ₹600 cr in BE 2026-27); the mission itself does not carry a single headline outlay because it is the framework rather than an instrument.

The Union Cabinet approved the Semicon India Programme on 15 December 2021, establishing the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) as the nodal agency. The programme offers fiscal support of up to 50% of project cost for silicon semiconductor fabs, compound semiconductor facilities, display fabs, ATMP/OSAT units, and chip design. Total outlay: Rs 76,000 crore (approximately $10.2bn at 2021 exchange rates). By February 2024, the Cabinet had approved three major semiconductor units under ISM: Tata Electronics with PSMC (semiconductor fab, Dholera, Rs 91,526 crore), Tata Electronics OSAT (Morigaon, Assam, Rs 27,120 crore), and CG Power OSAT (Rs 7,584 crore), totalling over Rs 1.26 lakh crore in committed investment from private applicants.

The Union Cabinet approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing on 21 March 2020, with the scheme notified in the Gazette of India on 1 April 2020. Total outlay: Rs 40,995 crore (~$5.5bn) over five years. The scheme extends incentives of 4% to 6% on incremental sales (over FY 2019-20 base year) to eligible companies manufacturing mobile phones (invoice value >= Rs 15,000) and specified electronic components including ATMP units. Approved beneficiaries include Samsung, Foxconn, Wistron, Pegatron, and Indian firms Dixon, Lava, and Bhagwati (Micromax).