Design in India or lose subsidy, IT & electronic minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tells electronics companies

NEW DELHI: The government has drawn a hard line under its electronics push, pairing fresh approvals worth thousands of crores with a blunt warning — subsidies will not flow to companies that treat India as a factory floor without building design muscle.Signalling a shift from scale to strategic value, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said firms under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme must embed design, quality and engineering in India or risk losing support. The warning comes alongside a fresh set of approvals that underline the scheme’s scale. The ministry has cleared 29 new projects involving Rs 7,104 crore investment, taking total approvals to Rs 61,671 crore — surpassing the initial Rs 59,350 crore target. Vaishnaw flagged gaps in industry response. “Real value gets captured only if design is done in India,” he said, adding that the incentives will be tied to deeper technological capabilities.