Before 2014, India had little or no presence in electronics and semiconductors. For decades, India was taken in the direction of socialism by clueless leaders. Manufacturing was not part of our strategic economic vision. It was actively discouraged and ignored, and many believed India could never build electronics or semiconductors. And then, in 2014, India’s leadership changed, and India’s ambitions changed. In 2021, when I became a Minister, against the backdrop of a still-raging COVID, PM @narendramodi ji called a meeting to discuss semiconductors. Many officials said, “India can’t do this. Only America, Taiwan and Korea can.” So many discouraged me. Only one person, PM Modi ji, said, “You go ahead. You draft the policy. ” There were many sceptics when I decided to include the Design Linked Incentive scheme as part of the policy too. But PM Modi ji’s clear vision that design is as important as manufacturing guided me. That allowed me to build it into the policy. Five years later, the results are visible: 🔹 12 approved semiconductor projects across 6 states, Rs 1.64 lakh crore in committed investment 🔹 Made-in-India chips already in commercial production 🔹 India’s first commercial fab at Dholera 🔹 620+ chip startups, $1 billion+ raised, and global giants acquiring Indian chip design companies Netrasemi in Thiruvananthapuram, among the first startups backed under the #futureDESIGN #DLI scheme, is designing world-class chips and has since raised Rs 107 crore. As I wrote in my column #SignalToNoise for @IndianExpress : India has the talent and a PM with the vision to back these goals. What we now need is a direct national strategy as part of our next phase toward design and architecture. The countries that design the chips the world runs on will write the story of this century. This is what #PoliticsOfSeva and #PoliticsOfPerformance can achieve. This is how we build #ViksitBharat.