Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal announced targeted BIS regulatory exemptions for high-tech chipmakers and AI infrastructure firms to accelerate domestic manufacturing.
India is preparing a framework to ease mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification requirements for high-tech companies importing specialized equipment and components for manufacturing, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal announced on Tuesday. The initiative aims to help semiconductor, artificial intelligence, and other advanced technology firms avoid operational delays. Japanese companies had previously raised concerns regarding the existing certification mandates.
Addressing representatives from Japanese semiconductor and AI firms, Goyal confirmed that both the BIS and the Commerce and Industry Ministry have been directed to develop an exemption framework. “I have noted some of the concerns that were flagged today. The concerns about BIS certification. I’m happy to share with you that we have taken action yesterday itself,” he said. “We have already instructed BIS and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to work on a framework to support high-tech industry, not necessarily only Japanese companies, but high-tech industries coming in to promote the Make in India program, to create a framework of exemption from BIS certification required for all the equipment and components that they need to bring to India to promote their manufacturing in India.”
Goyal noted that exemptions could be structured at the company, industry, product, or project level to ensure timely access to specialized equipment. “We’ll be creating a framework which will either give company level or industry level exemptions. We will work on the framework as I get back to India and find a solution for bulk exemption, or product or project based exemption, or company based exemption, so that we can have timely supply of products, goods, and services, and support your work in India,” he stated.
The certification challenge was specifically highlighted by Tokyo Electron, a leading Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturer. Looking ahead, Goyal projected that India’s semiconductor demand will reach $150 billion by 2032, underscoring the government’s goal to position the nation as a major global electronics manufacturing hub. To accelerate this vision, the government has approved the Semicon 2.0 scheme with a budget of ₹1,27,500 crore. Goyal added that, when combined with state-level incentives, the program could catalyze approximately $50 billion in investment. “We hope that this will be the foundation for sustainable growth in India and will help develop the precision manufacturing,” he noted.
The government anticipates that India’s first new semiconductor fabrication plant will be commissioned in 2028. “The world is showing greater confidence in India. We will make efforts to attract more manufacturers to come to India to set up fabs and manufacture chips, including silicon fabs, compound semiconductor fabs, discrete component fabs, display fabs, etc,” Goyal emphasized. Additionally, Goyal confirmed that the government is upgrading infrastructure surrounding Japanese industrial clusters and pledged to resolve outstanding issues pertaining to SEZ, EoU, and MOOWR frameworks.