Singapore, 23 March

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday briefed Singapore's business community about the strides taken by India in the field of manufacture of semiconductors and appealed to them to invest in this key sector in the country.

Jaishankar spoke about how machines for the manufacture of semiconductors have started coming (to India) and also how India is progressing towards establishing the first three plants for this multi-billion dollar industry. “There is a degree of purpose and seriousness as well as investment going into manufacturing that has not been seen for a long time,” the Minister told a 300-plus audience, mostly Singapore-based members of the business community.

He was answering questions at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) after a lecture on his book ‘Why Bharat Matters.’ “A very productive interaction with leading Singaporean Corporate figures. ... Appreciate their positive feedback on the India growth story, based on investment experiences. ... Confident that their commitment to doing more business in India will further increase,” Jaishankar later posted on X along with some photos from the event.

Jaishankar, who is on a three-day visit to Singapore and reached here earlier in the day, highlighted “a very good global manufacturing response to the Production Linked Initiative (PLI) Scheme,” but at the same time reminded the audience that India had missed the manufacturing bus in the previous decades.

Semiconductors are an essential component in almost everything, from electronic gadgets to consumer goods and from solar panels, satellites to weapons. Currently, India imports almost 90 per cent of its requirements of semiconductors.

Combining the two primary focus areas, the ‘Digital India' and ‘Make In India,’ the Modi government has launched ‘India Semiconductor Mission’ as a specialised and independent business division to enable India’s emergence as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design.

Jaishankar told the investor audience about three semiconductor plants being set up in India and said, “We have started to get machinery for semiconductors today to start to build in India.”