Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (C) and other executives and officials during the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Tata semiconductor plant.
Credit: Govt of Assam
Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday virtually laid the foundation stone for the Tata Group's Rs 27,000 crore semiconductor assembly and test facility, to be set up at Jagiroad in central Assam's Morigaon district.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who attended the function at Jagiroad, said that this would be the biggest ever private investment in the state, where the industrial sector has still remained in the nascent stage.
"Today is a historic day for Assam as we are getting investment of Rs 27,000 crores. We never imagined that Tata Group would invest in such a huge scale in Assam, where industries in the past hesitated to come and set up business," he said. "Our efforts in the past few years established peace and developed an atmosphere for business and investment."
The land where the semiconductor unit is being set up belonged to a paper mill of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited. The mill, however, was closed after years of mismanagement and loss.
Sarma said the semiconductor unit has the potential to provide direct employment to as many as 15,000 youths in the state and provide indirect employment opportunities to an equal number of job-seekers. "This will help the educated youths in our state and neighborhood to get jobs locally and take the state forward," Sarma said.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stones for the Tata-Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing's "Semiconductor Fabrication Unit" at Dholera and for the CG Power-Renesas outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) facility at Sanand, both in Gujarat. The combined investment of the three semiconductor chip production/assembly facilities comes to around Rs 1.26 lakh crore, said a statement issued by the Assam government.
The laying of the foundation stone for the plant, which the Sarma-led government has tried to project as the biggest achievement thus far in the industrial sector in Assam, comes at a time when the state is witnessing vociferous protests against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.