38 tech giants willing to manufacture laptops in India

IT and communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the government has received 38 applications for the PLI Scheme 2.0 for IT hardware of which over 25 are domestic companies. The minister noted that companies like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Thompson, Acer, and Asus will be manufacturing laptops under the scheme. HP, VVDN, Lenovo will also be manufacturing servers. 

This announcement comes days after the government announced restrictions in laptop imports from November. 

Apple and Samsung however have not yet announced about their participation in the scheme. The window for applying for the scheme closed on Wednesday night. 

Vaishnaw said that this move should see a significant reduction in the import of laptops and PCs. He added that "import restrictions are not a worry anymore."  

"I spoke to all the applicants and they didn't raise any concern," he said.  

Currently, around 70 per cent of laptop needs in India are met through China, Singapore and Hong Kong. 

The government to incentivise laptop, tablet, and server makers for manufacturing in India has boosted benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to ₹ 17,000 crore against the ₹ 7,350 crore announced earlier. Many top firms had then refused to be part of the scheme as manufacturing in India wasn't incentivised enough, as importing of laptops was not a problem. 

Manufacturing of laptops will begin by April 2024, officials said. Companies such as Dell are also migrating to PLI. Companies like Apple, Samsung, Foxconn and Dixon have done well in manufacturing of smartphones, and this is what the government is hoping to achieve with laptops too. 

The minister further said India is emerging as a trusted value chain partner.