SEMICON India 2025

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Recently, the Prime Minister inaugurated SEMICON India 2025 in New Delhi, the country’s largest semiconductor conference, underscoring India’s ambition to become a global semiconductor hub.

SEMICON India 2025

• It was jointly organised by the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and SEMI, the global semiconductor industry association.

• The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) serves as the nodal agency to implement semiconductor and display schemes, with the goal of building a robust semiconductor and display ecosystem in India.
• SEMI is the global industry association connecting over 3,000 member companies and 1.5 million professionals worldwide across the semiconductor and electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. 

• Theme for SEMICON 2025 is- “Building the Next Semiconductor Powerhouse”.

• This was the fourth edition of the conference, with three earlier editions held in Bangalore (2022), Gandhinagar (2023), and Greater Noida (2024).

Objectives of SEMICON India 2025

• The conference aims to attract global and domestic investments in semiconductor fabrication plants (fabs), Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) units, and advanced packaging facilities.
• It seeks to develop a secure and resilient supply chain for critical raw materials, chemicals, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
• Through the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme and other initiatives, it aims to promote collaboration between start-ups, academia, and industry to strengthen India’s chip design capabilities.

Significance of SEMICON India 2025

• Economic Growth – India’s semiconductor market is projected to expand to $100–110 billion by 2030, enhancing India’s global share in the semiconductor sector.
• Job Creation & Skilling – Workforce development initiatives aim to prepare one million skilled professionals by 2030, creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
• Global Partnerships – It facilitates cross-border collaborations, joint ventures, and knowledge exchange to embed India into global semiconductor supply chains.

Vikram-32 Microchip

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India’s semiconductor journey marked a historic milestone as the first set of Made-in-India chips from a pilot production line was presented to the Prime Minister during SEMICON India 2025.

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• India has built its first space-grade computer chip for rockets, called Vikram 3201. 
• It is a 32-bit indigenous space-grade microprocessor, engineered for high reliability in launch and orbital environments.
• The chip was designed by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and fabricated at the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Chandigarh.
• It was successfully validated on the PSLV-C60’s POEM-4 platform and formally cleared for production in March 2025.

Key Features of Vikram 3201

• Radiation Resilience: It is built on 180 nm CMOS technology, prioritising radiation tolerance, deterministic performance, and long-term certifiability over raw computational speed.
• Computational Capabilities: It supports floating-point arithmetic; equipped with an Ada programming toolchain, with a C compiler under development.
• Applications: Intended primarily for launch vehicle navigation, guidance, and control, with potential extension to satellites and planetary missions.
• Lineage: It is the successor to the Vikram 1601 (16-bit) microprocessor, which has been in use since 2009.

Kapas Kisan Application

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Union Minister of Textiles recently launched the Kapas Kisan application to facilitate seamless procurement of cotton from farmers under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme.

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• Kapas Kisan app is a new mobile application developed by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI).
• Cotton Corporation of India has set up a record 550 procurement centres across major cotton-producing states for the kharif 2025-26 marketing season beginning October.

Key features of the Kapas Kisan Application

• Farmer Self-Registration – Farmers can register themselves directly on the app without middlemen.
• Slot Booking – The app offers 7-day rolling slot booking, allowing farmers to schedule cotton deliveries at procurement centres to minimize waiting time and congestion.
• Payment Tracking – Facility to track payment status in real time, ensuring transparency and timely disbursal.
• Transparency in Procurement – Eliminates intermediaries and brings accountability in cotton procurement operations.
• Convenience & Speed – Digital process makes registration, scheduling, and payment monitoring quick and hassle-free.

MSP for Cotton crop

• The Government of India has increased the MSP for medium staple cotton to ₹7,710 per quintal and for long staple cotton to ₹8,110 per quintal for the 2025-26 marketing season. 
• The MSP for cotton is announced annually by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
• The CCI acts as the nodal agency for MSP operations, directly procuring cotton from farmers when market prices fall below MSP. 

About Cotton Corporation of India (CCI)

• CCI was established in 1970 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, as a Public Sector Undertaking under the Companies Act 1956.
• It functions as the nodal agency responsible for protecting the interests of cotton farmers by ensuring remunerative prices for their produce through price support operations.
• The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. 

DIGIPIN

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The Department of Posts (DoP) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) India Technologies Private Limited to strengthen the DIGIPIN Initiative.

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• Under this MoU, DoP will be able to use ESRI India’s high-resolution imagery and street basemaps for its DIGIPIN portal. 

• ESRI India provides Geographic Information System (GIS) software, mapping solutions, and spatial data analytics to enterprises and governments. 

• The collaboration will also enable the integration of DIGIPIN with ESRI India’s Living Atlas portal, thereby making it accessible to the larger GIS community. Further, ESRI India will provide technical support to the DoP for seamless integration of their services for DIGIPIN.

• This understanding aims to leverage ESRI India’s mapping solutions to support the development and implementation of DIGIPIN. 

About DIGIPIN

• The DIGIPIN (Digital Postal Index Number) is an open-source, interoperable, geo-coded, grid-based digital address system.

• It is developed by the Department of Posts in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO. 

• It is a cornerstone of the Department of Posts' vision to offer Address-as-a-Service (AaaS). 

• AaaS is an array of services associated with address data management to support secure and efficient interactions between users, government entities, and private sector organisations.

• The ‘Know Your DIGIPIN’ enables users to:

• Retrieve their DIGIPIN based on precise geolocation.
• Input latitude and longitude coordinates to fetch corresponding DIGIPINs and vice versa.

• Key Features:

• It divides India into 4m x 4m grids and assigns each grid a unique 10-character alphanumeric code based on latitude and longitude, unlike traditional postal PIN codes.
• The system significantly improves location mapping precision, strengthening last-mile logistics and delivery efficiency, particularly in areas with poor postal addressing.
• A complete repository of the DIGIPIN technical documentation and source code has been made available on GitHub, promoting open collaboration and nationwide adoption.

India–European Free Trade Association Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (India–EFTA TEPA)

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The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) will come into force from October 1, 2025.

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• The agreement aims to enhance trade, secure investment, and strengthen economic relations while ensuring legally binding commitments on sustainable development.
• The agreement will have legally binding provisions on trade and sustainable development for the first time in India’s FTA history.
• The negotiations between EFTA and India started in 2008 and concluded with the signing of the TEPA on March 10, 2024.

Key Highlights of the Agreement

• Under the agreement, India has secured an investment commitment of $100 billion over 15 years from EFTA nations.

• $50 billion within the first 10 years.
• $50 billion in the subsequent 5 years.

• The investment is expected to generate 1 million direct jobs in India.

• India has agreed to lower or eliminate tariffs on several imports from EFTA, such as Swiss watches, chocolates, cut and polished diamonds, biscuits, clocks, and machinery.

• India–EFTA two-way trade in 2024–25 was $24.4 billion, with Switzerland as the largest trading partner in the bloc.

About the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)

• The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is the intergovernmental organisation of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
• It was set up in 1960 under the Stockholm Convention to promote free trade and economic integration among its members.
• The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) has a primary headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
• EFTA's main function is to manage free trade between its members, negotiate trade agreements with non-EU countries, and participate in the European Economic Area (EEA) alongside the EU for economic integration. 

Hockey Asia Cup 2025

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The Indian men’s hockey team were crowned Asia Cup 2025 champions with a convincing 4–1 victory over South Korea in the final, held at the Rajgir Sports Complex in Bihar. 

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• With this win, India ended its eight-year wait to regain the Asia Cup title (last win in 2017, Dhaka) and secured direct qualification for the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 to be held in the Netherlands and Belgium.

• It was the 12th edition of the Men’s Hockey Asia Cup, organised by the Asian Hockey Federation.  

• It was held at the Bihar Sports University Hockey Stadium in Rajgir Sports Complex from 29 August to 7 September 2025. 

• Bihar hosted the tournament for the first time. 

• The official mascot is named “Chand”, inspired by the national animal tiger and the legendary hockey icon Major Dhyan Chand, who created history in the game by practising under moonlit nights.

Hockey Asia Cup

• The Asia Cup, organised by the Asian Hockey Federation since 1982, is held every four years and serves as a qualifier for the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Hockey World Cup.

• The International Hockey Federation is the governing body for the sport of Hockey.

• This was India’s 4th Asia Cup title, having previously won in 2003, 2007, and 2017.

• South Korea holds the record for the most wins with 5 titles in the tournament’s history. Pakistan has won it three times.