Lok Sabha Question No. 1703 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-30
Subject: DLI Policy of ISM
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Imran Masood

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1703

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 30.07.2025

## DLI POLICY OF ISM

## †1703.    SHRI IMRAN MASOOD:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  assessment  made by the Government on impact of US export restrictions on availability and procurement cost of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chips Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) on India's AI development;
- (b) the details of the steps being taken by the Government through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to strengthen the AI infrastructure under the National AI Mission;
- (c) the efforts being made by the Government under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) policy of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) to develop design and to promote production of AI and semiconductor chips;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  has  any  plan  to  enhance  funding  for  Indian  corporates,  MSMEs, startups and exporters under the DLI Policy;
- (e) if so, the time by which it is likely to be enhanced and the details of the funds allocation; and (f) the manner in which the collaboration is being made by the Government with global technology leaders to strengthen India's AI infrastructure?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a), (b) and (f): On 15 th January 2025, United States Department of Commerce issued AI Diffusion Rules which provided for export control and licensing regulations.  On 13 th May, 2025 the rule was rescinded. On 23rd July, 2025, United States has published its AI Action Plan under which there are no export restrictions imposed that can impact India's AI development.

In line with Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision, the Government is making technology accessible to all. The focus is on democratizing the development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for real-world problems, ultimately improving lives across various sectors.

## India's AI strategy:

India's AI strategy aims to position India as a global leader in artificial intelligence. Government launched  IndiaAI  mission  in  March  2024.  It  is  a  strategic  initiative  to  establish  a  robust  and inclusive AI ecosystem aligned with India's development goals.

The IndiaAI Mission comprises of the following 7 key pillars:

- IndiaAI  Compute  Capacity: It aims to  provide  high-end  compute  power  (GPUs)  to  all, including MSMEs and startups, at an affordable cost.
- IndiaAI Foundation Models: To develop India's own Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) trained on Indian datasets and languages. This is to ensure sovereign capability and global competitiveness in generative AI.
- AIKosh: To develop large datasets for training AI models. AIKosh is a unified data platform integrating datasets from government and non-government sources.
- IndiaAI Application Development Initiative: This pillar aims to develop AI applications for India  specific  challenges  in  sectors  such  as  climate  change  and  disaster  management, healthcare, agriculture, governance, and assistive technologies for learning disabilities.
- IndiaAI FutureSkills: To develop AI skilled professionals in India by increasing the number of graduates, post-graduate and PhDs in AI domain. It also envisions setting up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India.
- IndiaAI Startup Financing: To provide financial assistance to AI start-ups.
- Safe & Trusted AI: To balance innovation with strong governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI adoption.

| Aspect                  | Details                                                                              |
|-------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Total GPUs Provisioned  | 34,381 GPUs through the IndiaAI Compute Portal                                       |
| Beneficiaries           | Academia, MSMEs, startups, research community, government bodies, etc                |
| Pricing Support         | GPUs provided at discounted rates with 40% cost supported by the Government          |
| Average Price on Portal | Around ₹67 per GPU -hour (less than 1 USD), which is one-third of the global average |
| Types of GPUs Available | Nvidia H100, H200, B200; Intel Gaudi 2 &3;AMD MI300X, etc                            |

## Shaping global debate on AI:

- India is actively participating in shaping global debate on development, usage and safety of AI.
- India was the founder chair of Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI).
- India was able to carve out consensus on AI during the G20 communique.
- India is poised to host the AI Impact Summit in February 2026. It will bring governments, international institutions, start-ups, private sector companies and academia on one platform.

(c) to (e): The Government has approved the 'Semicon India programme' with a total outlay of ₹76,000 crore for the development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The 'Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme' has been approved as part of the 'Semicon India programme' to support domestic companies, startups and MSMEs.

Designing  and  commercializing  a  semiconductor  product  involves  high  entry  barriers,  long development timelines, and global competition.

To  address  these  challenges,  the  DLI  Scheme  provides  design  infrastructure  support,  such  as Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and Intellectual Property (IP) cores, to help with early prototyping of designs. The scheme also provides financial incentives of up to 50% of eligible costs, with a ceiling of ₹15 Crore per application for design prototyping, scaling -up and volume production.  To  enable  companies  to  deploy  and  commercialize  their  Intellectual  Property  (IP) cores, chips, and System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions, the scheme offers financial incentives ranging from 6% to 4% of net sales turnover, up to ₹30 Crore per application over five years.

72 domestic companies have been approved under the DLI Scheme for access to state-of-the-art Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools. These companies are at different stages of developing semiconductor  designs  for  various  applications.  Out  of  these, 23  companies have  also  been approved  for  financial  support  for  developing  SoCs  for  surveillance  camera,  energy  meter, microprocessor IPs, networking applications etc.

Ten  (10)  companies have  raised  venture  company  (VC)  funding  for  scaling-up  their  design prototypes for commercialization. Six (6) companies have successfully taped out their prototype designs at advanced and mature technology nodes of various semiconductor foundries. Further, funds under the DLI Scheme are released to the companies on regular basis on meeting specific milestones.

The DLI Scheme is being implemented in close consultation with stakeholders and beneficiary companies. Any modifications required will be made as and when necessary.

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