Consider the case of developing L, X , S band MMICs in country BUT industrial scale manufacturing is indeed missing.
So we very much can and have done quite a lot of work in that field. The S-band LSTAR AEW&C radar is a product of that research.
The IIT professor isn't exactly incorrect since semi-conductor research is limited to specialized institutions like GAETEC and not existent in the higher education institutes like IIT (most engineering institutes of a high caliber will have on-going student and researcher led projects in the field or professors who are running projects under government or private grants- industry oriented research is very low due to policies and structural issues).
What will be the private fabs like when they are setup say 2-4 years down the line- will they be capable of catering to the demands of mil-grade MMICs for our sensors?
Oh yeah. I am not aware of any industrial scale production of MMICs in India. I believe the professor (a Dr Ranade or Rawade) was talking about defense research. He was a consultant for DRDO in a lab with a confoundingly long acronym.
Industry/private sector research expenditure is fairly low in India across the board anyway, so it comes as no surprise that they are taking a back foot here.
Regarding the bolded part: UWA (my university) is ranked 84th in the world and as far as I'm aware has no ongoing research in the field. That being said most semi-conductor research in the West (as with the rest of the world) is done by industry.