<p>"The committe had its first meeting and discussed number of issues that will count in setting up wafer fabrication plant. We want interested companies to directly approach us, " the chairman of the committee, Sam Pitroda, told PTI.<br /><br />Pitroda said that he is in touch with semiconductor association but will talk to the players directly.<br /><br />"We need to talk to principals who can invest in setting up facility... We will talk to them one-by-one in next few months," he said.<br /><br />Semiconductor wafer fabrication plants are used for manufacturing electronic chips that are used in electronic devices and act like heart of a device.<br /><br />Pitroda mentioned that the committee will first focus on attracting investment in commercial market of semiconductor.<br /><br />"We have to see that a wafer fab is viable in India. India is a huge market. Our need of electronics is growing day-by-day but we are importing most of the products," Pitroda said.<br /><br />On semiconductor wafer fabriation for strategic sector like defence, he said, "It will come later."<br /><br />Pitroda mentioned that the government has clear focus to boost local manufacturing in the country and semi-conductor forms an important form of whole eco-system.<br /><br />"Around 30 to 40 per cent bill of material in a (electronic) product is for semiconductors. We have talent in India who design semiconductor but they are doing it for someone else's product," Pitroda said.<br /><br />He added that cell phone and PC market in India is growing and hence the need for having local manufacturing of semiconductor is unavoidable.<br /><br />"We need to reduce our import bill," Pitroda said.<br />In mid April, The Cabinet approved setting up high powered committee to set up two semiconductor wafer fabrication plant in the country with investment of Rs 25,000 crore (USD 5 billion approximately).<br /><br />Estimates show that India's demand for electronics products (including telecom) will be USD 400 billion by 2020.<br /><br />Meanwhile, at the existing rate of growth, the production of electronics hardware is likely to grow to USD 104 billion by 2020, creating a demand and supply gap of USD 296 billion, which would have to be met through imports.</p>
<p>"The committe had its first meeting and discussed number of issues that will count in setting up wafer fabrication plant. We want interested companies to directly approach us, " the chairman of the committee, Sam Pitroda, told PTI.<br /><br />Pitroda said that he is in touch with semiconductor association but will talk to the players directly.<br /><br />"We need to talk to principals who can invest in setting up facility... We will talk to them one-by-one in next few months," he said.<br /><br />Semiconductor wafer fabrication plants are used for manufacturing electronic chips that are used in electronic devices and act like heart of a device.<br /><br />Pitroda mentioned that the committee will first focus on attracting investment in commercial market of semiconductor.<br /><br />"We have to see that a wafer fab is viable in India. India is a huge market. Our need of electronics is growing day-by-day but we are importing most of the products," Pitroda said.<br /><br />On semiconductor wafer fabriation for strategic sector like defence, he said, "It will come later."<br /><br />Pitroda mentioned that the government has clear focus to boost local manufacturing in the country and semi-conductor forms an important form of whole eco-system.<br /><br />"Around 30 to 40 per cent bill of material in a (electronic) product is for semiconductors. We have talent in India who design semiconductor but they are doing it for someone else's product," Pitroda said.<br /><br />He added that cell phone and PC market in India is growing and hence the need for having local manufacturing of semiconductor is unavoidable.<br /><br />"We need to reduce our import bill," Pitroda said.<br />In mid April, The Cabinet approved setting up high powered committee to set up two semiconductor wafer fabrication plant in the country with investment of Rs 25,000 crore (USD 5 billion approximately).<br /><br />Estimates show that India's demand for electronics products (including telecom) will be USD 400 billion by 2020.<br /><br />Meanwhile, at the existing rate of growth, the production of electronics hardware is likely to grow to USD 104 billion by 2020, creating a demand and supply gap of USD 296 billion, which would have to be met through imports.</p>