India Semiconductor Mission

ISM stands for the India Semiconductor Mission, the central government programme that provides financial support to build a domestic chip industry. It is the scheme under which the Tata Electronics and PSMC fab at Dholera was approved, with fiscal support covering half of the eligible project cost.

What the India Semiconductor Mission is

The India Semiconductor Mission, or ISM, is a Government of India programme created to build a domestic semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem. Its core mechanism is fiscal support: for approved fabrication units, the mission covers 50% of the eligible project cost, sharing the enormous capital burden of chip manufacturing with private and international partners. The wider aim is to reduce India's dependence on imported chips, create high-skill jobs, and anchor a supply chain of materials, equipment and talent, in response to the global supply shocks of the early 2020s that exposed the risk of concentrated overseas production.

ISM and Dholera

Dholera is where ISM policy meets the ground. The Tata Electronics and PSMC fab, run through Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, was approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 Feb 2024 under the mission, at a reported Rs 91,000 cr, with the Fiscal Support Agreement signed on 5 Mar 2025. On 5 May 2026 the Cabinet cleared two further units under the mission, one in Dholera and one in Surat. For context that should never be attributed to Dholera alone, sanctioned semiconductor projects across India now number around a dozen. ISM also drives the skilling push that our careers pages track, because a fab needs a trained workforce as much as it needs capital.