Information Technology: Digital India and semiconductors

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. SEMICON India is co-hosted by ISM and SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International), the global body of equipment, materials and manufacturing companies that runs SEMICON shows worldwide. Editions have been held in Bengaluru (2022), Gandhinagar (2023), Greater Noida (2024) and New Delhi (Yashobhoomi, 2-4 September 2025), where the first set of made-in-India chips, including ISRO-SCL's VIKRAM3201, was presented to the Prime Minister. Statement 3 is wrong because the first edition was in Bengaluru in 2022.

The DLI Scheme, with an outlay of about Rs 1,000 crore, supports domestic companies, especially start-ups and MSMEs, at each stage of semiconductor design: integrated circuits, chipsets, systems-on-chip, systems and IP cores. It reimburses part of design expenditure (up to Rs 15 crore per company), offers deployment-linked incentives on sales, and gives access to EDA tools and design infrastructure. Large fabs are covered by the separate fab scheme, not by DLI.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The Semicon India Programme (Programme for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem) was approved in December 2021 with Rs 76,000 crore; ISM, its nodal agency, is a specialised, independent business division within the Digital India Corporation under MeitY. Statement 3 is wrong: the fab and display-fab schemes offer support of up to 50 percent of project cost on a pari-passu basis (and the compound/ATMP/OSAT scheme up to 50 percent of capital expenditure). States usually add their own incentives on top.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. The Union Budget 2026-27 announced ISM 2.0 to produce equipment and materials, design full-stack Indian intellectual property and fortify supply chains, with a focus on industry-led research and training centres, and made a provision of Rs 1,000 crore for 2026-27. Statement 3 is wrong: the ECMS (Rs 22,919 crore, launched April 2025, outlay proposed to rise to Rs 40,000 crore) supports electronic components and sub-assemblies such as passive components, PCBs, camera and display modules; chip fabs are supported under the Semicon India Programme.

Two of them. By 5 May 2026 the 12 approved ISM projects were in six States: Gujarat (Micron, Tata-PSMC, CG Power, Kaynes, Crystal Matrix, Suchi Semicon), Assam (Tata TSAT), Uttar Pradesh (HCL-Foxconn, Jewar), Odisha (SiCSem, 3D Glass Solutions), Punjab (CDIL, Mohali) and Andhra Pradesh (ASIP). Karnataka and Tamil Nadu host large chip-design centres and electronics assembly, but no ISM-approved fab or packaging unit in that list.

On 29 February 2024 the Cabinet approved the Tata Electronics-PSMC fab at Dholera, with an investment of about Rs 91,000 crore and a capacity of 50,000 wafer starts per month, for mature nodes of 28 nm and above (logic for automotive, power and display uses). Its partner is Powerchip (PSMC) of Taiwan, not TSMC. On the same day the Cabinet approved Tata's assembly and test unit at Jagiroad, Morigaon (Assam) and the CG Power- Renesas-Stars OSAT unit at Sanand; Renesas is a partner of CG Power, and Micron runs its own ATMP plant at Sanand.

Two pairs are correct. Micron's Sanand ATMP unit (approved June 2023, about Rs 22,516 crore) assembles and tests DRAM and NAND memory. SiCSem (with Clas-SiC, UK; approved 12 August 2025) will be India's first commercial compound fab, making silicon carbide devices. Pair 3 is wrong: CDIL is expanding its Mohali plant for discrete power devices (MOSFETs, IGBTs, Schottky diodes, transistors); display driver chips are the output of the HCL- Foxconn unit at Jewar, Uttar Pradesh. Pair 4 is wrong: 3D Glass Solutions will make glass substrates and advanced packaging modules, not display panels.

Statements 1 and 2 are correct. On 5 May 2026 the Cabinet approved two more ISM projects worth about Rs 3,936 crore, both in Gujarat: Crystal Matrix at Dholera, an integrated compound semiconductor fab and ATMP unit for GaN-based Mini/Micro-LED display modules (also offering GaN epitaxy foundry services on 6-inch wafers), described as the first commercial facility of its kind; and Suchi Semicon at Surat, an OSAT unit for discrete semiconductors. PIB stated that the total number of approved ISM projects then reached 12, with about Rs 1.64 lakh crore of investment. The Odisha units (SiCSem, 3D Glass Solutions) were approved earlier, on 12 August 2025.

Only statement 3 is correct (b). Digital India, launched in July 2015, has three vision areas: digital infrastructure as a basic utility for every citizen, governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens. Connecting villages through BharatNet broadband and bringing public Wi-Fi to schools, public places and tourist spots fits the first area (3). Creating Chinese-style national internet giants (1) and forcing foreign firms to localise their data centres (2) were not among its stated aims.

Its nine pillars include broadband highways, universal mobile access, e-Kranti and electronics manufacturing. Notice where data localisation came in later: the RBI's 2018 rule on payment data and the DPDP Act, 2023, which allows cross-border transfers except to blacklisted countries.

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Both statements are correct (c). DigiLocker, launched by MeitY in 2015 under the Digital India programme (1), is a cloud-based document wallet linked to Aadhaar. Agencies such as transport departments, CBSE, universities and UIDAI issue documents into it directly, and users can open them from anywhere (2). Under the IT Rules (2016 amendment), documents in DigiLocker are legally valid like physical originals. Police can accept a digital driving licence and registration certificate under the Motor Vehicles rules.

Today it has hundreds of millions of users and links to ABHA health records and the Academic Bank of Credits. Notice that it is part of India's Digital Public Infrastructure stack, alongside Aadhaar, UPI and e-Sign.

Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.

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