India, July 16 -- The Union Cabinet has approved two major manufacturing initiatives with a combined outlay of nearly Rs 1.9 lakh crore ($22 billion) to expand India's semiconductor ecosystem, scale up mobile phone production and strengthen its position as a global electronics manufacturing hub.

The Government on Wednesday approved the Rs 1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 programme to accelerate semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities, alongside the Rs 62,500 crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) aimed at increasing domestic production, boosting exports and deepening local value addition in the mobile phone industry.

The semiconductor programme builds on the first phase of the India Semiconductor Mission and will focus on...