What are the various products and their applications in silicon wafer manufacturing industry in India? Discuss the status of this industry, challenges and government policy incentives towards silicon wafers manufacturers.

The silicon wafer manufacturing industry produces goods like chips and microchips which are used in electronic devices. These products are then used in making integrated circuits due to the silicon wafers acting as semiconductors. Silicon wafers are used in computers, mobile devices and especially in smart phones.
The silicon wafer industry is one of the emerging industries of India. It is boosted by various factors like domestic and international demand, government incentives and international investment. The demand in domestic market has been steadily rising as India is one of the largest consumers in the electronic market.
However, the challenges faced by the Silicon wafer industry are:

• The devices required for functioning of the Silicon Wafer industry are very expensive and require huge investment. Further, they are very sophisticated devices and require huge investment for maintenance also. The Indian industries lack in such infrastructure.
• The industries suffer from lack of manpower. The industry requires educated but cheap labour, but it is not available in India. The company always requires bearing high cost of training personnel for the job because there is no other alternative institute or course that trains candidates for this job specifically.
• Silicon wafer industry also involves use of certain hazardous wastes-solid, liquid and gaseous. So, their disposal in the canals or other water bodies can pose a huge threat to the environment. This is also one of the reasons why the industry is not allowed to flourish in all locations.

Some of the initiatives taken by the government include:

• Allowing 100% Foreign Direct Investment in silicon industry. This leads to increased international investment.
• Tariff regulations have been relaxed to a great extent
• Electronic Hardware Technology Parks (EHTP) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are being set up for silicon wafer manufacturing
• Preferential Market Access is also being provided.

But there is still scope for more initiatives to make the industry flourish in an eco-friendly manner.

Topics: GS-III: Changes in Industrial Policy and Their Effects On Industrial Growth