IT Ministry approves 22 more firms for component incentives

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) approved 22 new projects under the ₹22,919 crore Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), under which firms making electronics parts will receive payouts based on incremental production and employment. The projects approved under Friday’s tranche amount to a combined investment of ₹41,863 crore, the IT Ministry said.

Small firms around the country as well as established heavyweights like Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd and Samsung’s display assembly facility in Noida will receive ECMS incentives, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. The components include printed circuit boards (PCBs), with nine applicants approved for this category; capacitors, connectors, device enclosures, lithium ion cells, optical transceivers, camera and display sub-assemblies, and anode, a battery component.

The ECMS payouts are likely to be a race, as the government will award incentives to the firms who finish their production roadmap first, incentivising firms to rapidly commence eligible production. The scheme is a key focus in the electronics manufacturing efforts by the Union government, aside from the semiconductor fabrication and assembly facilities that are receiving capital subsidies. 

The units will be in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the government said in a statement. “These approvals will significantly strengthen domestic supply chains, reduce import dependence for critical electronic components, and support the growth of high-value manufacturing capabilities in India,” the government said in a statement.

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw urged industry players at the announcement event for this tranche to upgrade their business management systems to implement “six sigma,” a challenging set of quality control measures. Mr. Vaishnaw also asked the industry to set up an “integrated” research and development setup for electronics design.