Foxconn exit has 'no impact' on India: MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn's decision to pull out of Vedanta joint venture has no impact on India's semiconductor fabrication plant goal, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday.

Foxconn has decided to pull out of the semiconductor joint venture with billionaire Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta.

"This decision of Foxconn to withdraw from its JV with Vedanta has no impact on India's Semiconductor Fab goals. None," Chandrasekhar tweeted.

The Vedanta-Foxconn JV had announced the setting up of India's first electronic chip manufacturing unit in Gujarat with an investment of around Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

"It's not for govt to get into why or how two private companies choose to partner or choose not to, but in simple terms it means both companies can & will now pursue their strategies in India independently, and with appropriate technology partners in Semicon n Electronics," Chandrasekhar tweeted.

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The minister said that both Foxconn and Vedanta have significant investments in India and are valued investors who are creating jobs and growth.

"It was well known that both companies had no prior semicon experience or technology and were expected to source Fab tech from a Tech partner. While their JV VFSL had originally submitted a proposal for 28nm fab, they could not source appropriate Tech partner for that proposal," the minister said.

He said that Vedanta through JV VFSL has recently submitted a 40 nm fab proposal backed by a technology licensing agreement from a Global Semicon major - which is currently being evaluated by government's Semicon India Tech Advisory group.

The minister said that India's strategy of catalyzing semiconductor ecosystem has seen rapid progress in the 18 months since Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved India's Semicon strategy and policy.

"To those editorializing abt this decision of Foxconn/Vedanta being a "blow" to India's Semicon ambition, I can only say its a bad idea to bet against India under PM Modi. India is just getting started," Chandrasekhar tweeted.

Cabinet had approved Semicon India Program in December 2015 with an incentive outlay of Rs 76,000 crore.

Vedanta Foxconn JV, IGSS Ventures and ISMC propose to set up electronic chip manufacturing plants with $13.6 billion investment and have sought support of $5.6 billion from the Centre under the Rs 76,000 crore Semicon India Programme.

Vedanta and Elest have proposed to set up a display manufacturing unit with projected investment of $6.7 billion and have sought support of $2.7 billion from the Centre under the Scheme for setting up of Display Fabs in India.