Tendulkar-backed company to invest Rs 5,000 crore for semiconductor facility in Maha

Mumbai, Mar 26 (PTI) RRP Electronics, a company backed by former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, on Tuesday announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore for a semiconductor facility in Maharashtra.

The investment will be done over the next five years, the company said in a statement.

Contributions from Tendulkar in the overall investment or details of other shareholders were not disclosed by the company.

The statement said on March 23, a 25,000 square feet facility in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai was unveiled in the presence of Tendulkar, retired nuclear physicist Anil Kakodkar and the company's founder, chairman, promoter and chief executive Rajendra Chodankar.

It is an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility and plans are afoot to establish a comprehensive research and development centre and have an expanded setup encompassing multi-line OSAT and a fab foundry, the statement said.

"Embarking on a journey of innovation, RRP Electronics pledges an initial investment of Rs 5,000 crore over the forthcoming five years, with equal vigour and commitment earmarked for phase II," the statement said.

It added that government subsidies will also be used to augment the venture, which will serve sectors such as automotive, power, electronics, and industrial markets.

Chodankar called it as Maharashtra's pioneering semiconductor facility and added that Tendulkar is a "strategic investor" in the company.

"We live in exciting times today, when India is building industries that positively impact the world tomorrow. I'm happy to be backing technologies and entrepreneurs who are part of this story," Tendulkar was quoted as saying.

The semiconductors sector is said to be capital intensive, and in the recent past, several companies have announced investments in such initiatives. PTI AA HVA