Overview

• The government sanctioned 23 chip-design projects under the Design-linked Incentive scheme to back solutions for surveillance cameras, energy meters, microprocessor IPs and networking applications.
• The DLI scheme reimburses 50% of eligible design expenditures up to ₹15 crore per application and provides a 4–6% deployment-linked incentive capped at ₹30 crore.
• Experts warn that ₹15 crore falls short of the ₹50 crore-plus cost for basic consumer-electronics chip designs, prompting the government to consider doubling the subsidy to ₹30 crore.
• Industry leaders propose opening the scheme to corporate MSMEs and easing the requirement to cover 50% of project costs upfront.
• EPIC Foundation signed an MoU with Germany’s Fraunhofer Group to strengthen joint R&D efforts in microelectronics.