India has long wanted to be a hi-tech manufacturing hub, with little success so far. But that could change soon. A new set of policies as well as a possible Rs 5,000-crore R&D fund for electronics is being finalised to spur hardware manufacturing.
There will be separate schemes to galvanise investments for semiconductor wafer fabrication units as well as for electronics and telecom product manufacturing. A Focus Group within the Department of IT will be set up with a specific mandate to boost electronics production levels.
The Rs 5,000-crore R&D fund being talked about will support development of products relevant to the Indian market. The funds, officials say, could be deployed in areas of innovation (language technology, handheld devices, amongst others) and development of Indian microprocessor. IT Department officials say that policy framing in many of these areas is now in its last lap.