India poised to become semiconductor major: Jairam

Bangalore, Feb 18 (UNI) Emerging as a major destination for semiconductor industry, India has received a commitment of seven billion dollar investment, Union Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh said today.

Speaking at the India Semiconductor Association(ISA) 'Vision Summit' here, he said the Fab City, coming up near Hyderabad, has attracted top semiconductor companies to manufacture mainly photo voltaic products.

''Important among these companies, include Sem India, which has made a commitment to invest three billion dollars, Nanotech Silicon India (two billion dollars) and Solar Semiconductor India (one billion dollars) investment,'' he said.

He, however, advised the semiconductor industry to ensure that it was driven by the public domain. The main drivers for the semiconductor industry in India, would be the mobile phone, personal computer and automobile markets, he said.

The country was consuming seven million new cell phone sets every month out of which 45 per cent was produced within India.

''The ratio will go up to 80 per cent in short time and this means a lucrative market for the country's semiconductor industry.

The Personal Computer market has seen a sales of 7.25 million PCs last year. The automobile sector, one of the fastest growing industry, will be the other which offers you a good market,'' he said.

Mr Jairam stressed the need for the industry to keep in mind the environment and be competitive edge against the cheap imports.

''We have to bring down the emission of green house gases (GHG) though we are not yet on the watch list of the first stage of Kyoto Protocol,'' he said.

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