Among the 27 businesses granted permission to produce IT gear in India under a production-linked incentive programme are global tech behemoths Dell, HP, and Lenovo from China. India wants to increase local manufacturing and draw significant investments across the value chain.

The government of India authorised the PLI Scheme 2.0 for IT gear in May, and under it, companies will receive incentives for goods made in India.

“IT hardware of well-known brands such as Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc will be manufactured in India,” the Ministry of Electronics and IT said a statement on Saturday.

The plan encompasses the production of laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, micro PCs, and servers and has a budget of 170 billion Indian rupees (about $2 billion) distributed over six years.

“23 out of 27 approved applicants are ready to start manufacturing on day zero,” Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw told industry leaders and media.

Together, the businesses are anticipated to invest $360 million and generate over 200,000 jobs, of which 50,000 will be direct and the remaining 150,000 will be indirect. It is anticipated that the Indian market for IT hardware will expand from $15.52 billion in 2022 to $22.77 billion in 2027.

“The IT Hardware manufacturing sector faces the lack of a level playing field vis-à-vis competing nations … There is need for a mechanism to compensate for the manufacturing disabilities vis-à-vis other major manufacturing economies,” according to the ministry.

“The PLI Scheme 2.0 for IT Hardware is expected to result in broadening and deepening of the manufacturing ecosystem by encouraging the localisation of components and sub-assemblies and allowing for a longer duration to develop the supply chain within the country,” said the ministry.

Due to incentives for electronics production and the fact that India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world, IT hardware manufacturers like South Korea’s Samsung and Apple supplier Foxconn have been diversifying their manufacturing locations outside of China.

(Adapted from ThePrint.in)