Assam will provide ‘top-up' incentives to electronics manufacturers: CM Sarma
Electronics manufacturers — including component manufacturers — will enjoy additional incentives on top of what they are already eligible to receive from the Union government if they set up facilities in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told semiconductor industry representatives and media personnel in Delhi on Monday (May 26, 2025). Mr. Sarma will hold similar roundtables with industry members in Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.
'Whatever the Government of India will provide' under programmes like the Electronics Manufacturing Component Scheme, 'we'll actually top up with 60% additional incentive,' Mr. Sarma said, matching three-fifths of the Centre's contribution.
Industry players are being encouraged with the Union government's Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialisation Scheme, Mr. Sarma said, essentially giving them access to at least three schemes to ease their entry to the state.
Spoke to industry leaders of the Electronics sector on Assam's customised and industry friendly policies and how we are walking the extra mile to aid industrial development in the State.
Investors interest in Assam is at an all time high.
📌Electronics Roundtable, New Delhi pic.twitter.com/euKVKTLn3Z — Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) May 26, 2025
Electronic city
Jagiroad, home to a former industrial belt along National Highway 37, is being rebuilt by Assam's government as an electronic city to house the Tata plant, where semiconductors will be 'packaged' and tested, and will also host foreign firms who will supply the plant and service its equipment. 'We're negotiating a big loan from the Asian Development Bank so that the city can fulfill all the requirements,' Mr. Sarma said, adding that an existing loan had already been approved to set up an Assam Skills University.
The cluster is located ideally, Mr. Sarma said, with an airport and railway station at a 45 kilometre distance. An outer ring road around Guwahati to improve this connectivity has also been approved by the Union government,' Mr. Sarma said.
A major component of Assam's electronics manufacturing policies is to encourage talent from the State to return and work there. 'We have a very good human resource base because we have an IIT in Guwahati, an IIIT in Guwahati, a good network of engineering colleges, and the Government of India has also declared the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) a deemed university,' Mr. Sarma said.
Why Assam
Mr. Sarma said that the State government's current electronics incentive corpus of ₹25,000 can be disbursed 'in one month also,' and that first movers — after getting the homologous incentive from the Union government — would benefit from quick approvals for these funds too. 'We don't have a problem of plenty,' Mr. Sarma said. 'You can talk, customise, and address requirements' with private firms.
'We have just developed [these schemes], so the government is very active. We can offer whatever they [industry players] want, and facilitate the entire journey with a lot of handholding… We're not waiting, we'll tweak the disbursement schedule depending on the industry's needs.'
There will be 'social infrastructure' in the cluster, with a medical college being sanctioned, and green power being provided to the Tata plant, Mr. Sarma said.
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