India to become a manufacturing hub : The central government has taken a major strategic step to make India a global manufacturing hub and boost chip and auto-component manufacturing. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced in Tokyo that the government will revise rules and implement new rules in the next two months to address all regulatory concerns faced by global companies that make semiconductor equipment and automotive components.
According to an ET report, the promise to ease the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) rules and speed up the approval process comes after concerns were raised by two major global corporations. The recently approved ₹1,27,500 crore ‘Semicon 2.0’ mission and the massive investment target of US$ 50 billion in the next one-and-a-half years, this 60-day action plan is all set to usher in a new chapter of ease of doing business in the country.
Advertisement to simplify the rules
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India will revise the rules and implement new rules in the next two months to address the concerns of semiconductor and automotive component companies. Speaking to Nikkei Asia in Tokyo, the minister said he had met two companies that wanted to start manufacturing semiconductors and automotive parts in India, and their concerns were addressed during the discussions. He also rejected the idea that India should be seen only as a “plus one” destination.
BIS framework is easy to do
“I have assured them that, in the next two months, India will amend its rules and introduce new rules to meet their demands, and ensure that they do not face any difficulties when they start manufacturing in India,” he said. The government has significantly simplified the structure of the Bureau of Indian Standards and is working to streamline the approval process, including for suppliers who are not subject to the changed norms, Goyal said. He added that there may be cases where the demand is only to import goods from another country, which is not conducive to fair trade practices and often the goods are supplied at predatory prices.
Approval of ‘Semicon 2.0’
He said, under such conditions, it is understandable that it is very difficult to meet the demands of certain sectors of the industry. And I make no apologies for this. When they meet me, I talk about it very clearly and openly. He further said that the Union Cabinet has approved ‘Semicon 2.0’ to develop India’s semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem. “Together with the private sector, we plan to start investing around $50 billion in semiconductor and industries in the next one-and-a-half years. Once this is done, we will bring ‘semiconductor 3.0’ because for us, this is a journey,” he said.
