The Union government has announced that as many as 14 global IT hardware manufacturers including Dell, Lava, Dixon, Wistron and Foxconn, have cleared the process under the Centre's Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI).
These companies will now, over the next four years, be eligible for PLI benefits and are likely to bump up total production of over Rs 1.61 lakh crore, and generate direct employment opportunities for over 36,000 people.
The PLI scheme for IT hardware, which was notified on March 3, 2021, provides an incentive of 1 to 4% to eligible companies on incremental sales over the base year of FY 2019-20 of goods under target segments that are manufactured in India for a period of four years (FY22 to FY25). The target segments under the PLI scheme for IT hardware include laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers (PCs) and servers.
The programme seeks to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the value chain of these IT hardware products. “Four companies have been selected under the category IT Hardware Companies which include Dell, ICT (Wistron), Flextronics and Rising Stars Hi-Tech (Foxconn),” the Union government said in a statement.
Wistron and Foxconn are Apple's contract manufacturers. Under the category of domestic companies gone global, proposals from 10 firms have been approved. These include Lava International Ltd, Dixon Technologies (India) Ltd, Infopower Technologies (JV of Sahasra and MiTAC), Bhagwati (Micromax), Neolync, Optiemus, Netweb, Smile Electronics, VVDN and Panache Digilife.
Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the PLI scheme has been a huge success in terms of the applications received from global as well as domestic manufacturing companies.
“Industry has reposed its faith in India's stellar progress as a world-class manufacturing destination and this resonates strongly with the Prime Minister's clarion call of Atmanirbhar Bharat — a self-reliant India,” Prasad said.
According to MeitY, it is estimated that in the next four years, the approved companies under the PLI scheme for IT hardware are expected to clock a total production of more than Rs 1.61 lakh crore.
Out of this, the players under the ‘IT hardware companies' category have proposed production of Rs 84,746 crore. The approved companies under the ‘Domestic Companies' category have proposed production of Rs 76,007 crore.
The scheme will bring additional investment in IT hardware manufacturing to the tune of Rs 2,517 crore, the statement said. Domestic value addition is expected to grow from the current 10-15% to 25-30%, it added.
After the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, the global manufacturing companies across the globe are looking to diversify their production locations to mitigate the risk involved in depending on a single market.
