New Delhi, Sept. 3 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday highlighted India's latest economic performance, pointing to GDP growth of 7.8% in the first quarter of the year "despite challenges driven by economic self-interest." The comment was seen as a veiled reference to rising protectionist measures worldwide, particularly US tariff moves. Modi cited the first quarter GDP numbers and said India has again performed better than every expectation and estimation. "...many issues are playing out in almost every economy, and challenges are stemming from self-interest. In that environment, India has shown a progress of 7.8% GDP," he said. Modi said the pace of growth was particularly notable when many other economies are grappling with slower growth. He attributed India's momentum to broad-based gains across manufacturing, services, agriculture, and construction. Modi said the energy from this performance is visible across industries and among citizens. He added that this momentum was energizing industries and creating optimism. Modi reiterated that India is on track to become the world's third-largest economy. Modi, who was speaking at the Semicon India 2025 a day after returning from China, described chips as the "digital diamonds" of the 21st century, drawing a parallel with oil in the previous century. He said that petroleum once shaped global fortunes, and semiconductors now hold similar importance for global progress. Modi said the global semiconductor market, worth around $600 billion, is projected to surpass $1 trillion. He expressed confidence that India would secure a significant share of this expanding market given its current trajectory in the sector. In the run up to the imposition of the tariff, Trump had dismissed India's economy as "dead". India in the first quarter as well as the 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025 fiscal) and years proceedings it, has remained the world's fastest growing major economy, outshining China by yards. The US economy grew at 3.3 per cent in April-June. US officials have in recent days used unduly harsh words to criticise India over continued purchase of Russian oil. Modi said his government will unleash a new phase of next generation reforms soon. "In the coming times, we are going to begin a new phase of next-generation reforms," he said. While he did not spell out the reforms planned, Modi may have hinted on the planned biggest reform of the goods and services tax (GST), with tax cuts on a wide range of common use products -- from shampoos and hybrid cars to consumer electronics. The GST Council, the all-powerful decision making body, is meeting in New Delhi for two-days beginning September 3 to discuss the proposed pruning of rates. Since January, Trump has launched a broad global tariff programme, slapping higher rates on imports from countries with which his administration had political grievances. Besides India, only Brazil has been slapped with a 50 per cent tariff. Trump argues that the tariffs boost American manufacturing and protect jobs, but his trade policies have led to economic chaos worldwide. The second version of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will provide support not just for chip manufacturing projects but also to the ecosystem partners who play key roles in their production, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday. While speaking to the media at Semicon India 2025, Vaishnaw said that a significant portion of the incentives will be earmarked for product development. "Getting ecosystem partners into the country is very important because that is the way to sustainably grow. "All the sectors need to be covered. We will continue that same approach and will give a lot of support to equipment manufacturers, material manufacturers and all other ecosystem partners. That will be a significant part of our journey," the minister said in response to a question on the next version of the India Semicon Programme. Under the first edition of India Semiconductor Mission, the government had approved an incentive of Rs 76,000 crore, comprising Rs 65,000 crore in incentives for chip production, Rs 10,000 crore for the modernisation of the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali and Rs 1,000 crore for the design-linked incentive scheme. Developing full products means, as in chipsets which are designed here, the IP rights reside in our country," Vaishnaw said....