K Chidambaram’s Request And Himanta Sarma’s Promise On Big Tata Project

A day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the Tata group has given an application to build a Rs 40,000 crore semiconductor processing plant in the northeast state, Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram has made a small request to the Assam Chief Minister.

“Tata Group has submitted an application to set up a semiconductor processing plant in Assam with an investment of Rs 40,000 crore. This will be a game-changer. My gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his continuous guidance in transforming our state,” Mr Sarma had announced in a post on X yesterday.

Mr Chidambaram today reposted the announcement on his own X timeline – and added a request.

“Call me when the facility is actually operational,” Mr Chidambaram said.

Mr Himanta, indicating he was up for the challenge, responded, “Yes. I will. Promise.”

Yes . I will . Promise https://t.co/9i8AxgNbms

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) December 9, 2023

The Congress MP’s post was seen as a swipe at Mr Sarma’s announcement of the massive project. Mr Chidambaram’s tweet on the completion of the semiconductor project was also seen as alluding to failure.

Mr Sarma has said he is working on policies to make the youth of Assam self-reliant. The Chief Minister’s Atmanirbhar Assam Abhiyan was launched on September 23, under which two lakh youth will be empowered to start entrepreneur ventures.

The beneficiaries under the scheme can get Rs 2 lakh in two instalments as a combination of government grants plus interest-free government loan to set up micro-enterprises or service units.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared he wants India to become a chipmaker for the world but those ambitions, first laid out in 2021, have suffered setbacks. India does not as yet have any chip manufacturing plants, although India’s Vedanta and Taiwan’s Foxconn are both looking at building facilities.

Demand for semiconductors in India and globally is also increasing. The government has forecast the domestic chip market will be worth nearly Rs 6 lakh crore by 2028 compared with Rs 1.9 lakh crore currently.