CHENNAI: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that the Central Government would soon announce a policy for the hardware industry.

Inaugurating SPEL Semiconductor’s new IC package at Maraimalai Nagar on the outskirts of Chennai, he said the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Communications and IT have put together a package for the hardware industry, which will be announced in a few weeks.

Chidambaram said: “This could be announced after the prime minister's return from the USA.”

He said that India should produce goods that are now being produced across the world. “It is possible that technology eludes us for a while. But I have great faith that we can do anything and just as better as what is being done anywhere in the world,” he said.

Chidambaram said assembly and testing is a very initial technological step in the chain of hardware production.

“Ultimately, in two years time, we must set-up chip manufacturing facilities and lab facilities that equal any facility in the world,” he said. He also pointed out that the IT industry was taking away most of the engineers in the country.

“If every engineering graduate who passes out become IT engineers, who will look after Mining, Metallurgy and Manufacturing, who will set up industries? We must pay attention to our human resources,” he said.

“We need high quality, first grade human resources that will meet the challenges of a global India,” he said further.

Stating that India must focus on research and development, he said: “R& D is the heart of any technology-driven business. We must build an India knowledge society. We must become a knowledge inventing society, a knowledge producing and a knowledge sharing society,” he said.

The finance minister also pointed out that Indians are leaders in world-class organizations and institutions. “This country must open its doors to anyone who has knowledge and make India a knowledge society,” he added.