Vaishnaw opens the Semicon 2.0 application portal as MeitY clears 12 more component projects worth ₹7,503 crore

India's semiconductor programme moved another step from announcement to execution on 6 November 2026. Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw launched the Semicon 2.0 Web Application Portal under the Semicon India Programme. On the same day, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) cleared 12 more applications under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), with projected investment of about ₹7,503 crore.

Taken together, the two announcements show where India's electronics policy is heading. Semicon 2.0 opens the next phase of chip-making incentives. ECMS fills in the layer below it: the copper foils, laminates, battery materials, ceramics and passive parts that every chip, board and device needs.

What the portal opens up

The Union Cabinet approved Semicon 2.0 earlier this year with a fiscal outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, as the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). Explainers published after the approval describe a programme built on six pillars: chip design, equipment and materials, fabrication (silicon, compound-semiconductor, discrete and display fabs), assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP/OSAT), R&D, and talent.

The new portal accepts applications for Pillars 2, 3 and 4. The 6 November MeitY release identifies these as machines and materials, setting up more fabs, and strengthening ATMP/OSAT, respectively. Applicants should use the official scheme guidelines for eligibility. Either way, this is the start of the formal application window for the capital-heavy parts of the programme. The first Semicon India phase, by contrast, mostly went to a handful of large fab and OSAT projects.

Vaishnaw described the approach as a stepwise move towards higher levels of manufacturing integration, so that India does not stay dependent on assembling finished products.

The 12 ECMS approvals

The latest ECMS batch is notable because several approvals are for upstream materials receiving their first approvals under this scheme. According to reports of the ministry's announcement, they include:

• Copper foil, to Indo Asia Copper Limited. Copper foil goes into copper-clad laminates for printed circuit boards and into lithium-ion cells.
• Cathode active material, to Vidyuta Materials Private Limited. This is the main input that sets a battery cell's chemistry and cost.
• Specialty ceramics, to Voltix Semicon Private Limited.
• Other approvals: multi-layer PCBs (NeST), relays (TDConnex, Chennai), heat sinks (Modern Automotives), anode material (TACC), polypropylene film (Enerfolie), and camera rims (Surface Modification Technologies).

Copper foil, cathode active material and specialty ceramics are first-time approvals under ECMS. The approved projects are spread across seven states.

With this batch, ECMS has now approved 118 applications covering 34 products across 16 states. Expected cumulative investment is about ₹77,051 crore, projected production about ₹5,73,146 crore, and expected direct employment 81,755 people.

Why SMEs matter here

Vaishnaw stressed that half of the units approved under ECMS are small and medium enterprises or MSMEs. That matters for how the ecosystem grows. A fab or an OSAT unit is a single large investment. The supply chain that feeds it depends on hundreds of mid-sized suppliers of foils, films, ceramics, chemicals and precision parts. In East Asian electronics hubs, these suppliers were often the slowest part of the system to build. They also tended to stay in place longest once established.

How it fits the bigger picture

The announcements come during a busy stretch for India's chip sector. At the ISIG Executive Summit a day earlier, ISM CEO Amitesh Kumar Sinha said the country's semiconductor strategy had moved from policy design to building the ecosystem. He pointed to advanced packaging, OSAT, and wide-bandgap power electronics such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) as areas of focus.

The combination looks deliberate. Semicon 2.0 pays for the fabs, equipment makers and packaging lines. ECMS pays for the components and materials that would otherwise be imported to feed them. If both work, more of the value in an India-made phone, server or EV battery pack would actually be produced in India.

What to watch

Several questions remain open. The government has not yet published how many Semicon 2.0 applications it expects in each pillar, or how long approvals will take. The new materials approvals still need to reach commercial output. Copper foil and cathode materials are hard to qualify with cell and PCB makers, and Indian suppliers will be competing against long-established producers in China, Japan and South Korea. The next useful signals will be the first Semicon 2.0 approvals under the new portal and offtake agreements for the ECMS materials projects.

Sources

• https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/business/ashwini-vaishnaw-launches-semicon-2-0-portal-says-50-of-units-approved-under-ecms-are-smes-msmes
• https://www.dqindia.com/semiconductors/ashwini-vaishnaw-launches-semicon-20-web-application-portal-12790123
• https://tennews.in/govt-launches-semicon-2-0-portal-clears-12-more-electronics-component-projects-worth-rs-7503-crore/
• https://kashmirdespatch.com/union-minister-ashwini-vaishnaw-launches-semicon-2-0-web-application-portal-and-announces-12-approved-applicants-under-electronics-components-manufacturing-scheme/
• https://www.etvbharat.com/en/technology/ashwini-vaishnaw-launches-semicon-2-dot-0-portal-says-50-percent-of-units-approved-under-ecms-are-smes-msmes-enn26110603597
• https://www.nextias.com/ca/current-affairs/01-09-2026/semicon-2-0-scheme
• https://ianslive.in/indias-semiconductor-push-moves-from-policy-to-execution-under-semicon-20-govt--20261105152733

• https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetailm.aspx?PRID=2333716&lang=2&reg=48