The Union Budget 2026 outlines India’s strategy to become a global semiconductor manufacturing hub, addressing critical aspects of equipment, design, and local component production to enhance the electronics ecosystem.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth budget delivered what India’s electronics industry has been asking for: depth over scale. The ₹40,000 crore India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 expands beyond fabrication to cover equipment, materials, design, and intellectual property development. The Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme gets a matching ₹40,000 crore allocation, nearly double its previous outlay.The question now isn’t whether India can assemble electronics—it’s whether India can build them from the ground up.”If India has to become competitive globally, the focus should shift from announcement to execution”, said Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of SPPL and exclusive brand licensee of Thomson, Kodak and Blaupunkt in India. “Design-linked incentives, deeper component localisation and semiconductor-linked supply chains are critical to help Indian manufacturers climb up the value chain.”Components, Not Just ChipsFor consumer electronics brands, the expanded ECMS matters as much as semiconductor ambitions. Components determine product performance, pricing stability, and market viability.”Budget 2026–27 places attention on how electronics are built, not just how much is produced”, explained Varun Gupta, Co-Founder of GOBOULT. “The expansion of the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme to ₹40,000 crore and the rollout of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 strengthen the component layer of the ecosystem. For the audio industry, components shape performance, power efficiency and product life, and they also influence cost stability.”Gupta’s point cuts through the hype: local component manufacturing won’t immediately reduce prices, but it reduces volatility. “As component manufacturing develops locally, pricing is unlikely to fall immediately, but volatility reduces. Over time, brands gain the ability to hold price points steady while improving quality and durability.”Ravi Agarwal, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Cellecor, called the ECMS expansion “a meaningful step toward building a stronger domestic component supply chain. Alongside the expansion of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 into a broader, full-stack programme covering materials, equipment, design, and R&D, this signals strong momentum toward positioning India higher on the global electronics value chain.”Infrastructure and IncentivesThe semiconductor push sits within a ₹12.2 lakh crore capital expenditure framework and includes duty rationalizations that directly impact manufacturers.”The Government’s consistent focus on infrastructure continues to be central to India’s growth agenda”, said Tadashi Chiba, MD & CEO of Panasonic India. “This sustained push will directly support the scaling of Panasonic’s advanced B2B solutions and offerings, which are integral to large-scale infrastructure development.
