India clears ₹1.25 lakh crore for Chip Mission 2.0
The second phase of India's chip mission is bigger, lasts longer, and gives more support to chip design.
In short
- India's government approved ₹1.25 lakh crore for the next phase of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM 2.0).
- The first phase had ₹76,000 crore. The new one is about 1.6 times bigger.
- This time the money also goes to machines, materials, chemicals, gases and Indian chip designs, not only factories.
Key numbers
₹1.25 lakh crMoney for ISM 2.0
₹76,000 crMoney for ISM 1.0 (started Dec 2021)
12Chip projects approved in phase 1
₹1.64 lakh crInvestment planned in those projects
12 yearsNew programme period (earlier 5 years)
What happened
- In early July 2026, the Finance Ministry cleared the ₹1.25 lakh crore budget for ISM 2.0.
- On 15 July 2026, reports said the Union Cabinet also approved it.
- The programme period was made longer, from 5 years to 12 years, so big investors can plan for the long term.
- Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the mission now covers the whole electronics chain, and that chip design companies will get special focus.
What ISM 2.0 pays for
- Factories: chip fabs, and plants that pack and test chips.
- Machines and materials: making chip-making equipment, raw materials, chemicals and special gases in India.
- Chip design: Indian-owned chip designs (called IP) and design companies.
- Talent: building skills and turning designs into real products.
Why it matters
Why this is useful
- Long, steady support makes it easier for companies to invest crores of rupees in India.
- Covering machines, materials and design means India depends less on other countries for each step.
Why it is good for freshers
- More support for design companies can mean more RTL design, verification and physical design jobs.
- New factories and supplier plants need process, equipment, testing and quality engineers.
- Skills to build now: Verilog/SystemVerilog, digital design basics, scripting (Python, TCL).
Why it is good for India
- Chips go into phones, cars, defence and payments. Making them here makes India safer from supply problems.
- Indian-owned chip designs mean India keeps more of the value, not only the assembly work.
Words in this story
- ISM: India Semiconductor Mission, the government programme for the chip industry.
- Outlay: the total money the government plans to spend.
- IP: a ready-made chip design block that a company owns and can sell or reuse.