Tamil Nadu firm gave Rs 125 crore to BJP, weeks after Centre okayed its semiconductor unit

“They could do scams worth thousands of crores, but they could not invest thousands of crores into semiconductor manufacturing.” This was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s barb at the Congress party on March 13, 2024.

Modi was speaking virtually at the foundation stone laying ceremony of semiconductor units in Assam. With the general elections barely a month away, Modi did not miss an opportunity to criticise the Congress for purportedly failing to set up a domestic semiconductor industry when it was in power. “This is why our government works with a forward-looking thought and futuristic approach,” Modi added.

On February 29, 2024, the Union Cabinet led by the prime minister had greenlit three semiconductor units in Gujarat and Assam. One of them would be built by the Tamil Nadu-based Murugappa group, a traditional player in finance, bicycle and agriculture sectors, which had no previous presence in the semiconductor industry.

The unit, with an investment of Rs 7,600 crore, was to come up in Sanand, Gujarat. As part of a scheme to incentivise semiconductor production, the Centre underwrote Rs 3,501 crore of this amount.

Within a month of the Union Cabinet’s approval, the Murugappa group donated an unprecedented Rs 125 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party. This was done through its...

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