40 Companies have applied to make laptops in India: Ashwini Vaishnaw

MeitY Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that nearly 40 companies including HP, Dell and Asus have applied to make laptops in India.

Published: Aug 31, 2023, 06:23 PM IST

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Indian government back in May expanded its PLI scheme to an outlay of $2 billion.
Today, the government said that 40 companies have applied for the PLI scheme.
The list includes companies such as HP, Dell, Asus and Lenovo.

Make in India program: The Indian government earlier this month announced restrictions on the import of laptops, tablets, all-in-one computers (AIOs). At the time, the government had decided to implement the new policy with immediate effects. Later, the government delayed the implementation of the policy by three months owing to widespread protest. Now, just days later, the Indian government has announced that at least 40 electronics companies have applied for India’s incentive programme to make laptops, tablets and servers in the country.

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According to a Reuters report, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today said that top electronics companies including HP, Dell, Acer, Asus and Lenovo have applied to make laptops, AIOs and servers in India. The applications by the electronics companies were made under the country’s $2 billion production-linked incentive (PLI) programme for information technology hardware, announced in May.

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Big thanks to IT hardware industry for your commitment and confidence in PM @narendramodi Ji’s ‘Make in India’ vision. pic.twitter.com/AJDPJfgop1

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— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) August 31, 2023

The PLI scheme for IT hardware is expected to bring 24.3 billion rupees of incremental investment and is likely to generate 75,000 direct jobs, the minister said, as reported by the news agency. The move is expected to benefit contract manufacturers such as Dixon Technologies, Wistron Corporation and Foxconn among others.

For the unversed, the original incentive plan that was announced by the Indian government back in February 2021 came with a $1 billion outlay. Then in May 2023, the government expanded the scheme to attract investments in IT hardware manufacturing by doubling the amount to $2 billion. The updated scheme is in line with the government’s plans to become a global manufacturing with an annual output worth $300 billion by 2026.

The revised plan will be for a period of six years, with the country offering cash-backs for manufacturers on sales of locally made goods that exceed an annual target.

IT hardware industry captains are all set to make in India.👍 pic.twitter.com/G6TtW5AsfR

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) August 31, 2023

The new scheme, in addition to boosting local manufacturing is also likely to help the government curb supplies from China amid rising security concerns.