Rajesh Exports setting up India's first display plant with $3 bn investment

Jeweller Rajesh Exports has agreed to invest $3 billion in Telangana to set up the country's first electronic-display plant, the state government said late on Sunday.

India and many governments around the world have raced to subsidise the construction of semiconductor and display factories as a shortage has hobbled the auto and electronics industries and highlighted the world's dependence on a few sources, such as Taiwan, for vital supplies.

"What was hitherto possible only in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, will now happen in Telangana," the creation of a large-scale ecosystem of partners and ancillaries supplying world-class television, smartphone and tablet makers, Telangana Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said, announcing the investment.

Rajesh Exports is also an applicant for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's $10 billion incentive plan to push companies to set up semiconductor and display operations in India, the government's next big bet on electronics manufacturing.

Industry body ICEA estimates demand in India for displays will be nearly $60 billion between 2021 and 2025.

Rajesh Exports, which has no prior experience in electronics manufacturing, is making the investment through Elest, a unit it incorporated for diversifying into making products such as displays and electric vehicles.

The company has qualified for incentives under a $2.4 billion PLI scheme for battery manufacturing in India.