Investors show strong faith in India's economy, PM's policies: Vaishnaw

Investors have continued to exude a high level of confidence in India's economy, the Prime Minister's policy and the country's talent, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday.

The minister was responding to a question on investor sentiment post-India-Pakistan military standoff on the sidelines of the inauguration of a new design centre by the Japanese semiconductor company Renesas.

"There is a very high level of confidence about our country's economy, about our Prime Minister's policies, about the excellent talent that we have in our country, and the way, the measured, the calibrated way by which our economy is growing," Vaishnaw said in response to question the mood of investors after heightened tension between India and Pakistan following their four-day military confrontation.

"Everybody wants to come to India at a much faster pace," Vaishnaw said.

The minister said that Renesas has started a new semiconductor design centre in Noida which will mark the beginning of design for the world's smallest chip in the country.

"The key point about this centre is, for the first time in our country, three nanometer chips, which are the most advanced, will be designed here in India end-to-end," Vaishnaw said.

Renesas, India Country Manager and VP, MID Engineering, Analog & Connectivity Group Malini Narayanamoorthi said that it is a proud moment for the company to start designing 3-nanometer chips at its Noida facility.

"We are proud to announce that, for the first time, 3-nanometer chipsan industry firstwill be designed right here at the new Renesas Design Centre in Noida," she said.

Vaishnaw said that as part of the chip design effort, the government will provide a microcontroller-based hardware kit, which can be used to develop many semiconductor-based products.

"That will be given to the 270 academic institutions, in which we have set up the EDA tools so that the students can learn, while they are learning the software part of it, they can also try their hands at hardware and develop new products," Vaishnaw said.

Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata, who joined the event virtually, announced that the company has grown 10 times in India to date and plans to grow the total workforce in the country to 1,000 by the end of 2025.

He said that Renesas expects 10 per cent of the company's total revenue to come from India in the next few years.

"Initial target was to achieve 10 per cent business by 2030, but it may take longer because of (US) tariff discussion," Shibata said.

Vaishnaw asked Renesas to grow the India facility by 10 times.

Renesas during the inaugural event signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and exchanged two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) under the MeitY Chips to Startup (C2S) programme.

The MoUs focus on supporting local startups by enabling them to drive technological advancement and promote local manufacturing in alignment with the Make in India initiative.

The MoU will also focus on enhancing industry-academia collaboration by fostering an innovative, product-focused mindset among students.