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Union Budget 2026 lays strong foundation for AI data centres and semiconductor ecosystem
24htopnews | February 2, 2026 3:06 AM CST

New Delhi: The Union Budget for the Financial Year (FY) 2026-27 includes several key measures aimed at accelerating growth in the Electronics Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence ecosystem said Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Railways and Information & Broadcasting Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw while addressing the media. AI Data Centres and Tax Incentives till 2047 Highlighting the focus on digital infrastructure Ashwini Vaishnaw said that data centres particularly AI data centres play a critical role in the infrastructure layer of the AI architecture. He noted that investments of around USD 70 billion are already underway in India with additional announcements of around USD 90 billion. To further encourage long-term investments Budget 2026-27 has proposed a tax holiday till 2047 for foreign companies providing cloud services to customers globally using data centre services from India. Such companies will provide services to Indian customers through an Indian reseller entity. A safe harbour of 15 percent on cost has also been proposed where the data centre service provider in India is a related entity. The long-term policy framework for data centres up to 2047 positions India among the leading global destinations for AI and cloud infrastructure the Minister said. India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Budget has announced the launch of India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 building upon the strong foundation created under ISM 1.0 which established a completely new and foundational semiconductor industry in India. ISM 2.0 will focus on designing and manufacturing semiconductor equipment in India manufacturing materials used in semiconductor production creating a large design ecosystem and further strengthening talent development initiatives. A provision of Rs. 1000 crore has been made for ISM 2.0 for FY 2026-27. Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) The Union Minister said that the allocation for the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) has been increased from about Rs. 22000 crore to Rs. 40000 crore in the Budget 2026-27. He highlighted the strong industry response to the scheme which has received 149 applications significantly higher than the expected 50 to 55 applications. The enhanced allocation will help maintain the momentum generated by the scheme.


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