About Design Linked Incentive Scheme:
- It is a key instrument in advancing India’s ambition to develop a strong fabless capability.
- It is implemented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the Semicon India Programme.
- Aim: The scheme aims to reduce import dependence, strengthen supply chain resilience, and enhance domestic value addition.
- Eligibility: Start-ups and MSMEs are eligible for financial incentives and design infrastructure support for semiconductor product design & deployment.
- Other domestic companies are eligible for financial incentives for deploying semiconductor designs.
- The DLI Scheme supports: Semiconductor design across the full lifecycle—from design and development to deployment—covering Integrated Circuits (ICs), chipsets, Systems-on-Chip (SoCs), systems and IP cores.
- Nodal Agency: C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing).
- Financial Incentives and Design Infrastructure Support under DLI:
- Product Design Linked Incentive:
- Reimbursement of up to 50% of eligible expenditure.
- The reimbursement is capped at ₹15 crore per application.
- The support is available to entities involved in semiconductor design for:
- Integrated Circuits (ICs) Chipsets Systems on Chips (SoCs) Systems & IP Cores Semiconductor-linked designs.
- Deployment Linked Incentive:
- Incentives of 6% to 4% of net sales turnover are provided for five years.
- The incentive is capped at ₹30 crore per application.
- The minimum cumulative net sales required over Years 1–5 is 1 crore for startups/ ₹ MSMEs and 5 crore for other domestic companies.
