Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday, 15 July 2026, welcomed two landmark decisions by the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approving a ₹1,27,500 crore semiconductor initiative dubbed Semicon 2.0 and a ₹62,500 crore mobile phone manufacturing scheme, positioning India as a global technology and electronics production hub.

Posting in Hindi on X, Puri declared: 'नया भारत अब केवल दुनिया का बाज़ार नहीं, बल्कि दुनिया का भरोसेमंद टेक्नोलॉजी और मैन्युफैक्चरिंग हब बन रहा है' ('New India is no longer merely a market for the world, but is becoming the world's trusted technology and manufacturing hub'). He credited the decisions to the leadership of PM Modi and described them as advancing that vision in a decisive step.

Context

The Cabinet's twin approvals mark a significant escalation in India's ambition to move up the global electronics value chain. Semicon 2.0, with its outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, is framed as an expansion of the country's earlier semiconductor push, while the ₹62,500 crore mobile manufacturing scheme builds on successive rounds of production-linked incentives introduced since 2020. Together, the two schemes represent a combined government commitment of nearly ₹1,90,000 crore in technology-led manufacturing.

Policy Backdrop

India's semiconductor drive began in earnest in 2021 when the Union Cabinet approved the India Semiconductor Mission with an initial outlay of approximately ₹76,000 crore, aimed at seeding domestic fabrication and design capabilities. Simultaneously, the first Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for mobile phones — launched in 2020 with an outlay exceeding ₹40,000 crore — attracted global handset brands to expand local assembly and, gradually, component manufacturing. Subsequent PLI extensions between 2021 and 2023 deepened electronics supply chains further. Semicon 2.0 and the new mobile manufacturing scheme are the latest and largest steps in this continuum, signalling that New Delhi views technology self-reliance as a strategic priority rather than a one-off policy experiment.

Stakeholders and Impact

The decisions are expected to benefit a wide range of players: global and domestic semiconductor design firms, chip assembly and testing companies, and mobile phone manufacturers already operating or planning to enter the Indian market. For electronics manufacturers, the enhanced incentive pool reduces the cost disadvantage of producing in India relative to established hubs in China, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Analysts have long argued that without a domestic chip supply, India's electronics ambitions remain structurally incomplete; Semicon 2.0's scale is intended to address that gap directly. Workers in allied sectors — packaging, logistics, and components — are also expected to benefit as manufacturing clusters expand.

What's Next

The immediate focus will shift to implementation: identifying project partners, finalising land and infrastructure for fabrication units, and disbursing incentives under the new mobile scheme. Progress on semiconductor fabrication and assembly projects already in the pipeline under the earlier India Semiconductor Mission will be closely watched as a bellwether for how quickly Semicon 2.0 can translate approvals into operational capacity. The next Union Budget will also be scrutinised for follow-on allocations that signal the government's resolve to sustain this investment cycle. If execution matches the scale of the Cabinet's ambition, India could meaningfully alter its position in global technology supply chains within the decade.