Industries · Semiconductors & Electronics
Semiconductor and Electronics Lawyers in Gujarat: Dholera SIR, Sanand, Fabs, OSAT and Suppliers
Legal work for semiconductor and electronics investors, suppliers and lenders in Gujarat: entry and joint ventures, land in the Dholera Special Investment Region and Sanand’s GIDC estates, semiconductor SEZs, State and central incentives, EPC, cleanroom and equipment contracts, technology and know-how, people and expatriate engineers, finance and disputes.
Gujarat’s projectsDholera SIRSanand & GIDCIncentivesContractsFAQs
At a glance
Dholera & Sanand
Gujarat’s two main locations for chip fabrication, assembly and test
4 semiconductor SEZs
Notified at Sanand and Dholera between June 2025 and April 2026
Land to disputes
Site, approvals, contracts, finance, people and disputes, run as one plan
27 countries
Clients and instructing law firms from four continents
Mahendra Bhavsar & Co. is a Gujarat-focused law firm, headquartered in Ahmedabad since 1982. Gujarat is now India’s main semiconductor cluster: a 300 mm fab is under construction in the Dholera Special Investment Region, and assembly-and-test plants are in production at Sanand. Every plant brings a chain of equipment makers, materials and gas suppliers, cleanroom and EPC contractors, logistics providers, lenders and investors, and each of them signs its own land, construction, supply and technology documents in Gujarat.
The firm’s work for semiconductor and electronics businesses covers that whole chain: the entity and the foreign-investment route, the site and its regime, the incentive conditions, the project and supply contracts, the technology and the people, the finance, and any dispute. It acts for multinational groups and their Indian companies, foreign law firms, international banks and investors, and Indian groups entering the supply chain, and reads the Gujarat regimes with the transaction documents from the start. Groups starting out can also see the firm’s setting up in India work and its industries page.
Who Needs Gujarat Counsel in the Semiconductor Supply Chain
Semiconductor work usually starts with a site, a supply contract or a partner, and grows into every part of the project.
Fab, ATMP & OSAT Project Companies
Building and running the plant.
- Land, lease and permissions
- Incentive approvals and conditions
- EPC and cleanroom packages
- Customer and supply agreements
- Workforce and expatriate teams
Equipment Makers & Service Teams
Supplying, installing and servicing tools.
- Equipment supply terms
- Installation and acceptance tests
- Service, uptime and spares
- Engineers on site
- Data and remote access clauses
Materials, Chemicals & Specialty Gases
Long-term supply into the fabs.
- Entity and site
- Long-term supply contracts
- Purity, contamination and liability
- Storage and logistics
- Take-or-pay terms
EPC, Cleanroom & Utility Contractors
Building what the plants need.
- EPC and turnkey contracts
- Variations, delay and guarantees
- Interfaces with tool suppliers
- Claims and arbitration
- Subcontracts in Gujarat
Investors, Lenders & JV Partners
Financing and owning the projects.
- Joint ventures and shareholder terms
- Diligence on land and incentives
- Security over leasehold land
- Indian-law opinions
- Exit and restructuring
Foreign Law Firms & Advisers
The Gujarat side of an overseas client’s project.
- Indian-law opinions
- Land and title diligence
- Local documents and closing
- Proceedings in Gujarat
- Enforcement
Semiconductor Projects in Gujarat: Where the Work Arises
Public announcements by the Government of India and the companies show the scale of the cluster:
- Dholera Special Investment Region. Tata Electronics’ 300 mm fab, with PSMC of Taiwan as technology partner, is under construction; an SEZ for it was notified on 9 April 2026 in Town Planning Scheme 2A. A gallium nitride compound-semiconductor fab and assembly project by Crystal Matrix was approved on 5 May 2026.
- Sanand. Micron’s assembly-and-test plant opened on 28 February 2026, Kaynes Semicon began production on 31 March 2026, and CG Semi began commercial production on 4 July 2026, each in its own notified SEZ.
- Surat. A semiconductor packaging project by Suchi Semicon was approved on 5 May 2026.
- The ecosystem. Equipment, materials and specialty-gas businesses have announced partnerships and plans linked to the Dholera fab, and the Government of India approved Semicon 2.0 on 15 July 2026, with schemes for design, machines and materials, fabs, ATMP and OSAT, research and talent.
Each of these projects draws suppliers, contractors, lenders and service businesses that need a Gujarat entity, a site, permissions and contracts. Naming a project here describes the market; it does not mean the firm acts for the company named.
Dholera Special Investment Region: Land, Allotment and Permissions
Dholera is a Special Investment Region declared under the Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009. It has its own regional development authority, the Dholera Special Investment Regional Development Authority (DSIRDA), which prepares the development plan and town planning schemes and grants permission to build. Industrialland in the activation area is offered by Dholera Industrial City Development Ltd (DICDL) on 99-year leases, on an as-is where-is basis, with GST, stamp duty, registration fees and land filling payable in addition to the published rate. The Gujarat Semiconductor Policy ties its land subsidy to land allotted at Dholera by DSIRDA or a government agency.
Before a business commits to a Dholera site, the firm checks:
- the final plot under the town planning scheme, which replaces the original survey number and may differ in size and location;
- the permitted use under the development plan and the Dholera development control regulations;
- DICDL’s allotment and lease terms on use, construction timelines, transfer, sub-letting and mortgage;
- whether the plot lies inside a notified SEZ: an SEZ notification covers its own area, not all of Dholera;
- development permission from DSIRDA before construction starts;
- stamp duty and registration on the lease, and any reimbursement available under the Gujarat Semiconductor Policy;
- access, utilities, right of way and the lender’s requirements for security over the lease.
Private land in the region. Much of the SIR is privately held agricultural land inside town planning schemes. The official Dholera website warns that private sellers sometimes describe land as inside the SIR when it is not. A buyer confirms the SIR boundary, the scheme and final plot, the revenue records and tenure, NA status and the restrictions on agricultural land before paying. GIDC rules do not carry over to Dholera by analogy: DICDL and DSIRDA land follows its own terms.
More on this work: Industrial land · SEZ, SIR, GIDC and GIFT City · Title due diligence
Sanand and Other GIDC Estates: Leasehold Industrial Land
Sanand’s semiconductor plants sit in Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) estates. GIDC land is generally held on a 99-year lease, so a buyer, a joint-venture partner and a lender take the lease and its conditions, not freehold title. GIDC’s permission is needed for transfer, sub-letting, subdivision and amalgamation, change of product and mortgage, and its utilisation rules set the time to build.
Suppliers to the Sanand plants often look at other GIDC estates, private industrial land or ready-built rental factories nearby, and at the Mandal–Becharaji region, where automotive and Japanese suppliers are concentrated. Each choice has its own diligence: allotment and lease terms, dues and permissions for GIDC land; title, tenure and NA permission for private land; and lease, fit-out and exit terms for a rental factory.
More on this work: GIDC plots · Industrial leases · Gujarat’s industrial corridors
Semiconductor SEZs in Gujarat
Four semiconductor SEZs have been notified in Gujarat: for Micron at Sanand (June 2025), CG Semi and Kaynes Semicon in Sanand-II (September 2025), and Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing at Dholera (April 2026). Reforms announced in June 2025 lowered the minimum contiguous area for an SEZ dedicated to semiconductors or electronic components from 50 to 10 hectares, allowed the encumbrance-free condition to be relaxed where land is mortgaged or leased to the government, and allowed such units to supply the domestic market on payment of duty.
An SEZ is a choice, not a requirement. The decision turns on the import profile, domestic sales, net foreign exchange, land and security, related-party flows and the exit route. The firm advises on the land, the developer and unit documents and the contracts; the unit’s SEZ duty compliance is handled by its own advisers.
Incentives: Gujarat Semiconductor Policy, ISM and Semicon 2.0
Most semiconductor projects in Gujarat rest on central and State support, and the conditions of that support shape the land, the contracts and the finance.
- Central support. Fabs, display fabs and ATMP or OSAT units approved under the India Semiconductor Mission receive fiscal support under an agreement with the Government of India. Semicon 2.0, approved on 15 July 2026, extends support to design, machines and materials, research and talent, through pillar-wise schemes notified on 31 August 2026.
- Gujarat Semiconductor Policy (2022–27). For projects approved by the Mission, the policy offers additional capital assistance of 40% of the central capital assistance; a land subsidy of 75% on the first 200 acres for a fab and 50% for further land or ecosystem projects, on land allotted at Dholera by DSIRDA or a government agency; reimbursement of stamp duty and registration fees on eligible land; a power-tariff subsidy for ten years; and water at set rates. It bars claiming similar incentives under other Gujarat policies.
- Components and capital equipment. The central Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme and Gujarat’s Electronics Component Manufacturing Policy 2025 support component and supply-chain makers, under their own windows and conditions.
The legal work sits in the conditions: eligibility, milestones, recovery of support on default, restrictions on transfer and change of control, the interaction between schemes, and what a lender can rely on. Each incentive is conditional and depends on the project’s approval and the scheme’s current terms, so the firm reads the current notification before advising. The State policy runs for five years from its notification, and its renewal is due for review in 2027.
Setting Up: Entity, Foreign Investment and Joint Ventures
Foreign investment in manufacturing is permitted under the automatic route, subject to the FDI policy. Most foreign groups set up an Indian subsidiary or a joint venture with an Indian partner; liaison, branch and project offices have narrower uses and cannot be assumed to cover manufacturing. Investors with any beneficial ownership from a country that shares a land border with India need a specific analysis under Press Note 2 of 2026 and the amended Non-debt Instruments Rules before they invest.
- choice of vehicle, the foreign-investment route and the joint-venture or shareholder terms;
- incorporation, with foreign documents notarised and apostilled or legalised as required;
- foreign-investment reporting to the RBI after each issue or transfer of shares, and the annual return;
- the incentive applications and the site, which often run in parallel with incorporation;
- the first contracts: equipment orders, EPC, leases and services.
More on this work: India entry · Joint ventures · Foreign investment
Project, Equipment and Supply Contracts
A fab or assembly plant runs on a stack of contracts whose terms must fit together. The firm drafts, reviews and negotiates:
- EPC, turnkey, civil and MEP contracts, and cleanroom design-and-build packages;
- equipment purchase agreements, with installation, factory and site acceptance tests, commissioning and performance acceptance;
- service, maintenance, uptime, spares and software-support agreements;
- long-term supply of chemicals, materials and specialty gases, with purity specifications, contamination, take-or-pay and supply interruption;
- customer, foundry and OSAT services agreements, with forecasts, allocation, quality, warranty and recall;
- logistics, warehousing and high-value transport of tools;
- utility agreements, and price, GST and input tax credit terms across the supply chain.
Where the commercial risk sits. The owner, the EPC contractor, the cleanroom builder, the utilities and the tool suppliers depend on each other. If the schedules and acceptance terms do not allocate those dependencies, one delay becomes a claim against everyone. The firm reads the contracts together, so that delay, liquidated damages, liability caps and dispute clauses line up across the project.
More on this work: Commercial contracts · Supply agreements · Semiconductors in Gujarat’s industries
Technology, Know-How, Data and People
Semiconductor value lies in process know-how, and the plant’s people carry it.
- technology transfer and licence agreements: background and foreground IP, improvements, field and territory, sublicensing and what happens on termination;
- confidentiality and trade secrets on site, with access controls for contractors and visiting engineers;
- protection of integrated-circuit layout designs under the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000, and disputes over technology and IP;
- data clauses for remote diagnostics, machine logs and cross-border access, planned for the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, whose provisions come into force in stages;
- employment terms and policies under the four Labour Codes, in force since 21 November 2025, including shift work and contractor workforces;
- visas and FRRO registration for foreign engineers who install and commission equipment under a supply contract, planned before the project schedule is fixed.
More on this work: Technology, data and IP · Trade secrets · People and expatriate staff
Finance, Security and Disputes
Finance. Lenders to semiconductor projects look at the incentive conditions, the lease and the mortgage permission from DICDL or GIDC, the SEZ position, the material contracts and technology licences, completion and termination risk, and change-of-control restrictions. The firm gives Indian-law opinions and documents for international and domestic lenders and borrowers, including on external commercial borrowing.
Disputes. The usual disputes are EPC delay and variations, failed acceptance tests, equipment performance and uptime, contaminated or short supply, misuse of licensed know-how, joint-venture deadlock and disputes with an authority over allotment or incentives. The firm acts in domestic and international arbitration, seeks and resists interim relief from Indian courts in aid of arbitrations seated in India or abroad, and acts on the enforcement of awards, up to the Supreme Court of India.
More on this work: Banking and finance · Arbitration · Interim relief · Enforcement
Work That Carries Across to Semiconductor Projects
The firm’s work for manufacturing groups and their Indian companies in Gujarat includes:
- industrial land, industrial parks and phased plant development for foreign manufacturing groups, including approvals, employment policies and vendor contracts;
- imports of large-scale plant and machinery for joint ventures in Gujarat;
- industrial property acquisitions with lender-consortium consents and the release of existing charges;
- acquisitions, transfers and sub-leases of GIDC plots for industrial clients;
- supply, manufacturing and distribution agreements for overseas companies;
- Indian-law advice to international banks on external commercial borrowing;
- acting for and against the enforcement in India of foreign arbitral awards, and interim measures in support of arbitration for overseas suppliers.
The same approach serves the semiconductor and electronics mandates arising at Dholera and Sanand: one team for the land, the contracts, the people, the finance and any dispute.
Named a winner at the India Business Law Journal Regional Law Firm Awards 2026 in Arbitration & ADR (Ahmedabad) and Real Estate (Ahmedabad).
Working with Other Advisers
Mahendra Bhavsar & Co. works with a network of affiliated firms of chartered accountants and company secretaries, and with established advocates across Gujarat. Tax-compliance and company-law filing steps are handled with the affiliated firms as one team and one timetable. SEZ duty, environmental, export-control and foreign-law questions are taken with the client’s own advisers in those fields, and the firm works alongside the client’s counsel abroad and its technical consultants.
Related Insights from the Firm
Articles by the firm on points that arise in semiconductor and industrial projects.
What You Will Usually Need to Provide
- the business, its place in the semiconductor supply chain and the project or customer it serves;
- the parties and their countries, any shareholding from abroad, and the timetable;
- for land: the location (Dholera, Sanand or elsewhere), the final plot or survey number, and any allotment letter, lease or offer;
- for incentives: the approval or application and its conditions;
- for contracts or disputes: the contract, the correspondence and any notice, claim or award.
The firm first checks for conflicts of interest. Please do not send confidential papers until the firm confirms it can act.
Questions on Semiconductor Projects in Gujarat
Position as at 6 November 2026.
Where are Gujarat’s semiconductor plants?
In the Dholera Special Investment Region, where Tata Electronics’ fab is under construction and a compound-semiconductor project has been approved; at Sanand, where Micron, Kaynes Semicon and CG Semi run assembly-and-test plants; and at Surat, where a packaging project has been approved.
What is the Dholera Special Investment Region?
A large area declared under the Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009, planned and managed by its own regional development authority, DSIRDA, which prepares the development plan and town planning schemes and grants permission to build. Industrial land in the activation area is offered by DICDL.
Is industrial land at Dholera or Sanand freehold?
Usually not. DICDL offers industrial land at Dholera on 99-year leases, and GIDC estate land, including at Sanand, is generally held on 99-year leases. The lease terms govern use, transfer, sub-letting and mortgage.
Do suppliers to a fab automatically get Gujarat semiconductor incentives?
No. Incentives depend on the project’s approval and the scheme’s conditions. Many suppliers fall under component or capital-equipment schemes instead, and Gujarat’s semiconductor policy bars claiming similar incentives under other Gujarat policies.
Does a semiconductor unit have to be in an SEZ?
No. An SEZ suits some projects and not others, depending on imports, domestic sales, foreign exchange, land and exit plans. The choice is made at the start, because it shapes the land and the contracts.
Can a foreign equipment maker send its engineers to install tools in Gujarat?
Yes, but it is planned in advance. Foreign engineers who install and commission equipment under a supply contract generally need an employment visa, and registration with the FRRO where required, before the project schedule is fixed.
Can a foreign company own all of its Indian semiconductor company?
Generally yes: foreign investment in manufacturing is under the automatic route, subject to the FDI policy. Investors with beneficial ownership from a country that shares a land border with India need a separate analysis under the 2026 changes before investing.
Can the firm work with our overseas lawyers and technical advisers?
Yes. The firm answers the Indian-law questions and runs the Gujarat work, and coordinates with counsel abroad and with the client’s tax, technical and regulatory advisers.
Discuss a legal matter with the firm
Tell the firm about the business, its place in the supply chain and where in Gujarat the project is.