Design Linked Incentive Scheme: In a step to elevate India’s position in the global semiconductor industry, the Union government has expanded its Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday stated that the initiative focuses on 25 identified semiconductor products that must be designed, developed and produced entirely in India. He highlighted that the plan aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal to establish a comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem, instead of pursuing isolated projects.
“Basically, 25 products have been identified, and the complete design, the IP rights, and most importantly, the export and production of all the 25 chips must be from India. With this thinking, the Design Linked Incentive scheme is being expanded. There will be a focus on these 25 products,” Vaishnaw told ANI at SEMICON India 2025 event.
Vaishnaw noted the importance of this expansion, stating that “the entire process of making a semiconductor is coming to India.” “The entire process of making a semiconductor is coming to India, and it is a very happy thing. This is a foundational industry. Like with steel, where it has multiple uses, semiconductors too, can be used in a multitude of products like cars, fridges, scooters, mobile phones; for everything semiconductor chips are required,” he added.
What Is The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme?
The scheme was announced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology to support India’s semiconductor design industry. The initiative is aimed at helping the local companies to grow, move up and strengthen the semiconductor chip design ecosystem in the country. DLI scheme’s objective includes facilitating the growth of the domestic companies, startups and MSMEs.
Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) is responsible for implementation of the DLI Scheme as Nodal Agency.
The DLI Scheme aims to offer financial incentives as well as design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design(s) for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design(s) over a period of 5 years.
Eligibility
Financial incentives and design infrastructure support will be provided to domestic companies, Startups and MSMEs engaged in semiconductor design or semiconductor linked design.
The approved applicants that claim incentives under the scheme shall retain their domestic status (i.e. more than 50% of the capital in it is beneficially owned by resident Indian citizens and/ or Indian companies, which are ultimately owned and controlled by resident Indian citizens) for a period of three years after claiming incentives under the scheme.
An applicant must meet the Threshold and Ceiling Limit to be eligible for disbursement of incentive.
Applicants are advised to check the official website of Electronics And Information Technology Ministry to know the full eligibility and Threshold and Ceiling Limit.
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