Data from the minister of state for electronics and information technology (MoS IT), Rajeev Chandrasekhar, was given in the Rajya Sabha and indicated that over the last three fiscal years, imports of semiconductor chips worldwide surged by 92% while those from China increased by 53%. According to data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCIS) webpage, Chandrasekhar stated in his written response to a query posed by MP Abir Ranjan Biswas that total semiconductor chip imports climbed from Rs 67,497 crore in 2020–21 to Rs 129,703 crore in 2022–23.

 

The statistics also revealed that over the same time period, these imports from China rose from Rs 24,604 crore to Rs 37,681 crore. The minister said that because India is a party to the World Trade Organization's Information Technology Agreement (ITA-1), which covers the majority of electronic components, including semiconductor integrated circuits (chips), these imports are subject to zero basic customs duty.

 

The category "Monolithic integrated circuits - digital" accounted for the largest share of imports from both China and the rest of the world in 2022–2023, with a total value of Rs 82,283 crore. China is the source of imports worth Rs 30,960 crore of this. The next product was "Memories," the imports of which totaled Rs 22,845 crore, of which Rs 2,589 crore came from China.

 

"Amplifiers" saw Rs 2,811 crore in global imports in 2022-23, of which Rs 639 crore was from China.