The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed by India and Japan on Japan-India Semiconductor Supply Chain Partnership, the government said in a press release issued on Wednesday. The MoC was signed between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan in early July this year and got the final Cabinet nod today.

The MoC intends to strengthen cooperation between India and Japan towards enhancement of semiconductor supply chain, recognizing the importance of semiconductor for the advancement of industries and digital technologies.

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The MoC, according to the release, will remain in force for a period of five years. As part of the deal, both Government to Government and Business to Business bilateral cooperation shall be sought on “opportunities to advance resilient semiconductor supply chain and leverage complementary strengths”.

The deal is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to make India a semiconductor hub. It is also in line with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity)’s vision to create a conducive environment for electronics manufacturing in the country.

The ministry has also introduced a special program for development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem to ensure a robust and sustainable semiconductor industry in the country.

The said program aims to extend fiscal support for establishment the Semiconductor Fabs, Display Fabs, Fabs for Compound Semiconductors/Silicon Photonics/Sensors/Discrete Semiconductors and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP)/Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facilities.

Further, India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been established under Digital India Corporation (DIC) to drive India’s strategies for development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

MeitY has also been mandated to promote international cooperation in the emerging and frontier areas of Information Technology under bilateral and regional frameworks. With this objective, MeitY has entered into MoUs/MoCs/Agreements with counterpart organizations/agencies of various countries to promote bilateral cooperation and exchange of information and also to ensure supply chain resilience enabling India emerge as trusted partner.

Enhancing mutual collaboration between Japan and Indian companies through this MoU is a another such step towards mutually beneficial semiconductor related business opportunities and partnerships between India & Japan.

In view of synergies and complementarities between the two nations, “India-Japan Digital Partnership” (IJDP) was launched during the visit of PM Modi to Japan in October 2018 furthering existing areas of cooperation as well as new initiatives within the scope of cooperation in S&T/ICT, focusing more on “Digital ICT Technologies”.

Based on the ongoing IJDP and India-Japan Industrial Competitiveness Partnership (IJICP), this MoC on Japan-India Semiconductor Supply Chain Partnership is likely to further broaden and deepen the cooperation in the field of electronics ecosystem.