Fresh electronics sector policy in Karnataka likely by Sept 2025

The incentives and ecosystem development initiatives undertaken by the current policy propelled Karnataka as formidable competition for not just other states in the country but also global hubs, Department of Electronics, IT & BT Secretary Ekroop Caur said.

The Karnataka government is likely to release a revised Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) policy by September 2025, when the current version will lapse, for which it will start deliberating with the industry in the latter half of this year, Department of Electronics, IT & BT Secretary Ekroop Caur said on Wednesday at the IESA Vision Summit in Bengaluru.

“Government of Karnataka was one of the first states to come up with a dedicated ESDM policy. Our policy was announced in 2017 and was up till 2022. To bring it in line with the Government of India’s policy, we had extended it till September 2025. Of course, we are now looking at the next version of it and we will very soon start engaging with the industry to deliberate on what is the way ahead,” Caur said.

She further noted that while the state government had aimed to attract Rs 5,000 crore in investment through the policy, it has instead raised more than Rs 60,000 crore for the same since 2017, most of which was post-pandemic. Not all of this has translated into grounded projects as some still remain in the pipeline, she clarified later to DH.

The incentives and ecosystem development initiatives undertaken by the current policy propelled Karnataka as formidable competition for not just other states in the country but also global hubs, she said. Currently, 10% of India’s electronic industrial output, 40% of design output, 50% of product companies and 400+ chip design companies are in the state, also known as the Silicon Valley of India.

However, while the country is contributing significantly to servicing global companies in the ESDM space, the government and industry bodies now want to shift focus to building products and IP indigenously to sell to the world.