India is working on a framework to exempt high-tech manufacturers, including semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) companies, from mandatory Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification on imported equipment and components, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.
Addressing the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India's 66th annual session in New Delhi, Goyal said the exemption would cover specialised machinery and parts that companies bring into India to set up manufacturing operations. "We are coming up with a new regulation," he said, citing the complexity of semiconductor supply chains. "One company needs to have 13,501 components before they make a semiconductor chip," he said, recounting a conversation from a trip to Japan last week.
Goyal first flagged the plan on Aug 25 while addressing Japanese semiconductor and AI executives, including representatives of Tokyo Electron, in Tokyo. "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 coming in to promote the Make in India programme," he said then. On Wednesday, he reiterated that commitment to India's auto component makers, framing it as part of a broader push to support supply chains feeding into the sector, including semiconductors and speciality steel.
Separately, the minister linked the planned exemption to wider government efforts to build resilience in critical supply chains, alongside production-linked incentive schemes for auto components, and speciality steel. Goyal did not say when the exemption framework would be finalised or which sectors beyond semiconductors and AI would qualify.