Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India's global presence is growing in the electronics related economy.
The Minister was on a visit to the University of Surrey where he undertook a tour of the distinguished semiconductor facility.

While thanking the University for the invitation to visit the facility, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India is fast becoming an important player in the global electronics value chains and is ready to collaborate with the electronics industry and academia in the United Kingdom.

The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The Surrey Ion Beam Centre (SIBC) has been in operation for over 40 years, providing ion beams for analysis and modification of materials initially to support the UK academic and industrial microelectronics research community. It provides access to academia and industry. The SIBC supports rigorous quality assurance and is ISO9001 certified. It was made a national centre to support microelectronics research in the UK in 1978, providing ion implantation and doping facilities as well as the background research skills to enable UK academia and industry with expertise and facilities for their R&D work. The UK semiconductor market has grown to be worth more than £10bn per year and the UK photonics market is worth around £14bn, with the UK being one of the top three leading countries in photonics.

The Minister mentioned that as India is investing heavily in the semiconductor programme and key supply chains, it can be a potential collaborator to support efforts. He added that in furtherance of the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and positioning India as the global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM), the Cabinet approved a comprehensive program for the development of a sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem in the country with an outlay of ₹ 76,000 crore (>10 billion USD). The programme aims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem. This will serve to pave the way for India’s growing presence in the global electronics value chains, he said.

The programme will usher in a new era in electronics manufacturing by providing a globally competitive incentive package to companies in semiconductors and display manufacturing as well as design.

In addition to support to industry, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Government of India has also approved modernisation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory, Mohali as a brownfield Fab. Further Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI), PILANI is actively engaged in Semiconductor research and would be interested R&D collaborations to develop innovative meta-material-based tuneable filter for customised transmitter/ detector application and photonic crystal-based sensor-platform for customised healthcare diagnostics, he added.

India is investing heavily in the semiconductor programmes and key supply chains, University of Surrey can be a potential collaborator to support in efforts, the Minister concluded.

Dr Jitendra Singh is leading a high-level official Indian delegation of the Ministry of Science & Technology on a 6-day visit to the United Kingdom.

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