Lok Sabha Question No. 1879 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-11
Subject: Initiatives to promote Startups, Research and Development in IT Sector
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Dr. Alok Kumar Suman

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1879

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 11.02.2026

## INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE STARTUPS, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN IT SECTOR

## 1879. DR. ALOK KUMAR SUMAN:

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

- (a) the present status of the electronics and information technology sector in the country including domestic manufacturing, exports and adoption of digital technologies;
- (b)  the  measures  taken  to  promote  domestic  production  of  electronic  goods,  semiconductors, components and hardware under initiatives such as Atmanirbhar Bharat and PLI schemes;
- (c)  the  steps  being  implemented  by  the  Government  to  enhance  IT  infrastructure,  digital governance, cybersecurity and cloud computing services across Government and Private Sectors;
- (d)  whether  any  initiatives  are  being  undertaken  to  promote  startups,  innovation,  research  and development and skill development in electronics and Information Technology (IT);
- (e) the mechanisms in place to ensure data privacy, protection and security of digital platforms; and
- (f)  the  additional  policy,  financial  and  institutional  measures  proposed  by  the  Government  to further strengthen the electronics and IT ecosystem, boost digital inclusion, foster innovation and ensure global competitiveness of the sector nationwide?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (f): Driven by Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat, India  aims  to  develop  complete  manufacturing  ecosystem  for  electronics  sector.  Electronics manufacturing in India has expanded significantly in the last 11 years. It can be seen from the following statistics:

| #                                     | 2014-15       | 2024-25       | Remarks           |
|---------------------------------------|---------------|---------------|-------------------|
| Production of electronics goods (Rs.) | ~1.9 Lakh Cr  | ~11.3 Lakh Cr | Increased 6 times |
| Export of electronics goods (Rs.)     | ~0.38 Lakh Cr | ~3.3 Lakh Cr  | Increased 8 times |

| #                                 | 2014-15       | 2024-25      | Remarks             |
|-----------------------------------|---------------|--------------|---------------------|
| Production of mobile phones (Rs.) | ~0.18 Lakh Cr | ~5.5 Lakh Cr | Increased 28 times  |
| Export of mobile phones (Rs.)     | ~0.01 Lakh Cr | ~ 2 Lakh Cr  | Increased 127 times |

This growth has been possible due to various measures taken by the Government in the last 11 years  to  promote  domestic  production  of  electronic  goods,  semiconductors,  components  and hardware. These include:

- PLI scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing
- PLI Scheme for IT Hardware
- Scheme  for  Promotion  of  Manufacturing  of  Electronic  Components  and  Semiconductors (SPECS)
- Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC and EMC 2.0) Scheme
- Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS)
- Public  Procurement  (Preference  to  Make  in  India)  Order  2017  to  prioritize  domestically manufactured products in public procurement
- Reforms in taxation including rationalization of tariff structure, exemption on basic custom duty on capital goods, etc.
- Allowing 100% FDI in electronics manufacturing, subject to applicable laws / regulations

To further deepen the component ecosystem, the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) was launched in April 2025 to enhance Domestic Value Addition (DVA) and integrate Indian industry with Global Value Chains (GVCs).

To build manufacturing capability in Semiconductor, Government has launched Semicon India Programme .  In  less  than  three  years,  ten  (10)  Semiconductor  units  have  been  approved  with cumulative  investment  of  Rs  1.6  Lakh  Crore.  These  include  silicon  fab,  Silicon  Carbide  fab, advanced packaging, memory packaging etc.

To strengthen India's semiconductor chip design ecosystem the Government has approved the Design  Linked  Incentive (DLI) Scheme,  under  the  Semicon  India  Programme.  This  scheme supports domestic companies in semiconductor design, startups and MSMEs, including IP cores, ASICs,  SoCs  and  related  products.  The  scheme  provides  a  three-tier  support  framework comprising access to design infrastructure such as EDA tools, IP cores and prototyping facilities; product  design  incentives  and  deployment-linked  incentives.  So  far,  fiscal  support  has  been approved for 24 chip design projects across sectors such as satellite communication, IoT, power management, medical devices, surveillance, smart meters and edge AI.

Further,  to  address  the  semiconductor  talent  gap,  the Chips  to  Start-ups  (C2S)  Programme focuses  on  large-scale  capacity  building  and  design  infrastructure.  The  programme  aims  to generate 85,000 industry-ready professionals, of which over 67,000 students have already been trained.  Under  C2S,  122  chip  designs  from  46  institutions  have  submitted  their  designs  for fabrication at SCL Mohali. Advanced chip design tools and training support have been extended to over 400 organisations, including 300+ academic institutions and 100+ startups, strengthening India's semiconductor design ecosystem.

Union Budget 2026-27 has announced Semicon 2.0 and increased the outlay for ECMS to Rs. 40,000 crores.

The Indian  IT/  ITeS  industry has  a  leading  position  globally  and  has  been  progressively contributing to the growth of exports and creation of employment opportunities. The Government of  India  is  actively  promoting  growth  of  IT  sector,  especially  in  smaller  cities  and  towns. Government has set up 68 Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) centres of which 60 centres are located in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities

This industry has continued to perform its role as the consistent growth driver for the economy. The performance of this sector (Both Exports and Domestic) over the last five years is given below:

(in USD Bn)

|               | 2019-20   | 2020-21   | 2021-22   | 2022-23   | 2023-24   | 2024-25 (E)   |
|---------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------------|
| Exports       | 147       | 152       | 178       | 194       | 199.5     | 224.4         |
| Domestic      | 44        | 45        | 49        | 51        | 54.4      | 58.2          |
| Total Revenue | 191       | 196       | 227       | 245       | 254       | 282.6         |
| YoY Growth%   | 7.90%     | 2.09%     | 15.5%     | 7.9%      | 3.7%      | 11.25%        |

(E) = Estimate

To  promote  the  growth  of  IT/ITeS  industry,  the  Union  Budget  2026-27  has  announced  the following:

- All IT, ITeS and related services are proposed to be clubbed under a single category of Information Technology  Services  with  a  common  safe  harbour  margin  of  15.5  percent applicable to all.
- The threshold for availing safe harbour for IT services is being enhanced substantially from 300 crore rupees to 2,000 crore rupees
- Fast tracking of Advance Pricing Agreements

To democratize technology and empower citizens, the Government launched the Digital India programme in July 2015 to promote digital inclusion and access to public services. Key initiatives towards this include:

- Unified Payments Interface (UPI): UPI has revolutionized digital transactions across the country. UPI has empowered millions of individuals and small businesses in rural and remote areas to make fast, secure and low-cost digital payments, significantly advancing financial inclusion. UPI is now live in over eight countries, including the UAE, Singapore,

Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, Mauritius, Qatar making India a global trailblazer in digital payments. UPI is now the world's biggest digital payments system.

- UPI serves 6.5 crore merchants, and connects 685 banks on one platform, making it the world's largest digital payment system.
- UPI powers 81% of India's digital payments and nearly 49% of global real-time digital payments.
- Aadhaar: Aadhaar  is  the  world's  largest  digital  identity  programme  that  provides biometric and demographic-based unique digital identity. 143+ crore Aadhaar IDs have been generated so far.
- DigiLocker: DigiLocker has provided anytime access to authentic digital documents from original issuer for the common citizen. More than 65.01 crore users are registered with DigiLocker to avail its services and more than 950+ crore documents issued from 2412 issuers onboarded on the platform.
- UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is a Government of India digital platform that provides single-window access to multiple government services from the Centre, States, and local bodies. Presently, 2,390+ (Central - 872; State - 1518) are being offered through UMANG platform.
- Common Services Centres -CSCs are offering  government  and  business  services  in digital  mode  enhancing  last-mile  connectivity  in  rural  areas  through  Village  Level Entrepreneurs  (VLEs).  Over 800  services are  being  delivered  through  CSCs.  As  of December, 2025, 5.87 lakh CSCs are functional across the country (in rural and urban areas), out of which 4.57 lakh CSCs are functional at the Gram Panchayat level (rural).

To further enhance digital governance and infrastructure ,  the  Government launched the GI Cloud (MeghRaj) initiative to provide scalable and secure cloud-based ICT services to Central and State/UT departments. Presently, over 32,000 virtual machines are operational on GI Cloud, with more than 2,188 Government departments hosting their applications. In addition, MeitY has empaneled  26  domestic  and  international  Cloud  Service  Providers  to  offer  cloud  services  to Government entities, thereby promoting a robust and competitive cloud ecosystem and supporting the secure digital transformation of public service delivery.

The Government has undertaken a comprehensive set of measures to strengthen cybersecurity across Government and private sectors:

- The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), designated as the national nodal agency leads incident response and coordination.
- The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) monitors cyberspace for threats and shares real-time intelligence with stakeholders, while the Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK) provides citizen-centric services for botnet cleaning, malware removal and cyber hygiene awareness.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs has established the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) for coordinated action against cybercrimes, and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) safeguards critical information infrastructure and provides threat intelligence and advisories.
- To enhance preparedness and resilience , CERT-In operates an automated cyber threat intelligence  exchange  platform,  conducts  regular  cyber  security  mock  drills,  and  has
- formulated a Cyber Crisis Management Plan for all Ministries, State Governments and critical sectors.
- CERT-In has issued Comprehensive Cyber Security Audit Policy Guidelines (July 2025) mandating  annual  audits,  empaneled  237  security  auditing  organisations,  and  released guidelines for secure application development and updated technical standards for Bills of Materials (BOM) for software, hardware, AI, quantum and cryptography.
- Sector-specific mechanisms such as CSIRT-Fin support the financial sector, while capacity building is strengthened through the ISEA programme, regular professional trainings and nationwide awareness initiatives  including  National  Cyber  Security Awareness  Month, Safer Internet Day, Swachhta Pakhwada and Cyber Jagrookta Diwas.

To strengthen the startup ecosystem in the Electronics and ICT domain, MeitY has undertaken several  initiatives  to  promote  technology-driven  entrepreneurship.  Under  the  Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0) Scheme , launched in 2019, financial and technical support is being provided through 51 selected incubators located in institutes of higher learning and premier R&D organisations across the country.

Further, MeitY has launched the Gen-Next Support for Innovative Startups (GENESIS) Scheme to  strengthen  the  startup  ecosystem  in  Tier-II  and  Tier-III  cities  by  scaling  up  around  1,600 technology startups. In addition, MeitY has operationalized several Domain-Specific Centres of Excellence (CoEs) and theme-based incubation centres in areas of national priority to promote innovation and self-reliance. These centres provide targeted support to startups in key sectors such as ESDM, FinTech, MedTech, AgriTech, IoT and other emerging technology domains.

Further,  the  Government  is  promoting skill  development in  Electronics  and  Information Technology  through  institutions  such  as  the  National  Institute  of  Electronics  &  Information Technology (NIELIT), an autonomous body under the MeitY. NIELIT operates 56 own centres, over 700 accredited training partners and more than 9,000 facilitation centres across the country, providing large-scale capacity building, digital skilling and human resource development in the areas of Electronics and ICT.

Policies of the Government aim to ensure an open, safe, trusted and accountable cyberspace while  supporting  India's  transition  towards  a  digitally  empowered  economy.  With  the  rapid adoption  of  digital  technologies  such  as  cloud  computing,  artificial  intelligence,  digital  public infrastructure, fintech and e-commerce, the Government has established a comprehensive legal framework for data protection through the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025.

The framework mandates that personal data be processed only for lawful purposes based on valid consent or specified legitimate uses, and grants enforceable rights to individuals, including the right to withdraw consent, seek erasure of data and access grievance redress mechanisms. Data Fiduciaries are required to implement appropriate technical and organizational safeguards such as encryption, access controls, monitoring and breach notification. Additional obligations apply to Significant Data Fiduciaries, including audits and impact assessments.