The Hindu Business Line : Semiconductor sector sees Rs 55,000-cr fresh investments

New investments
Vavasi Telegence plans to invest about Rs 39,000 crore for solar photovoltaic and polysilicon unit
EPV Solar has proposed an investment of Rs 4,000 crore for solar photovoltaic unit
Lanco Solar plans Rs 12,938-crore investment in Solar PV and Polysilicon unit

Moumita Bakshi Chatterjee

New Delhi, Sept. 21 In the last two months, the Government’s policy for semiconductor fabs and eco-system units has attracted three new solar photovoltaic (PV) proposals together worth nearly Rs 55,000 crore, thus taking the overall proposals under the scheme to 14 and the total investment commitment to almost Rs 1,36,000 crore.

“With this kind of investment, the sector is all set to take off. It is now for the industry to take advantage of the proactive policies of the Government and start work on the projects,” said Mr M. Madhavan Nambiar, who had spearheaded the semiconductor initiative during his just concluded tenure as the Special Secretary in Department of IT. Mr Nambiar took over as Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, earlier this month.

According to sources, three new applicants – EPV Solar, Vavasi Telegence and Lanco Solar – have entered the fray. While Vavasi Telegence has indicated an investment of about Rs 39,000 crore for solar photovoltaic and polysilicon unit, EPV Solar has proposed an investment of Rs 4,000 crore for solar photovoltaic unit.

Lanco Solar would invest Rs 12,938 crore in Solar PV and Polysilicon unit.

The companies, however, could not be reached for comments.

Expert committee meeting

Meanwhile, the committee of technical experts constituted to evaluate the projects from technology standpoint, has held its first meeting.

The Special Incentive Package Scheme (SIPS) – notified last year to encourage investment for semiconductor fabrication and other micro and nano technology manufacturing industries – lays emphasis on the latest technology and hence inputs from experts become critical in evaluation of the projects.

Besides the latest entrants, the Government has already received proposals from corporate giants such as Reliance Industries Ltd and Videocon Industries for incentives under SIPS.

While Videocon Industries plans to set up LCD fab (Rs 8,000 crore), Reliance Industries is planning a semiconductor wafer fab (Rs 18,521 crore).

Proposals on hand

Proposals pertaining to Solar PV space include Moser Baer PV Technologies (Rs 6,000 crore), Titan Energy Systems (Rs 5,880 crore), KSK Energy Ventures (Rs 3,211 crore), Signet Solar (Rs 9,672 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 11,631 crore), Phoenix Solar India (Rs 1,200 crore), Tata BP Solar India (Rs 1,693 crore), Solar Semiconductor (Rs 11,821 crore), and TF SolarPower (Rs 2,348 crore).