The Indian government has approved 27 partners who will build hardware in India. Participants include HP, Dell, Foxconn, Lenovo, Acer and Asus. With the new Production Linked Incentive (PLI), a market value equivalent to 40 billion euros would be realized.
With the so-called PLI, India expects to realize 200,000 jobs. Manufacturers will get to work producing laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs and servers, among others. 23 companies are set to be ready at “day-zero,” said Minister Vaishnaw, in charge of India’s electronics and IT policy.
Battle with foreign countries
Vaishnaw stressed the importance of the PLI, stating that it puts India in contention as a significant player “in PC, server, laptop and tablet manufacturing.” In addition to international giants such as HP and Lenovo, the initiative has also attracted homegrown companies.
The support for additional hardware manufacturing from India is part of a larger initiative by the Indian government. Under Prime Minister Modi, the country hopes to become more technologically autonomous, deploying import restrictions to protect its internal economy. Thus, each global player is working to strengthen its respective dominance. Within the EU, similar initiatives have been set up, although they focus mainly on chip production.
Similarly for India, it is looking to supply its domestic market with homegrown consumer products. This market is very lucrative as it boasts a rapidly growing economy with a population of 1.4 billion. Still, India has much to gain in terms of exports: in 2018, it exported 3.5 percent of all low-skill products globally, while China accounted for 22.8 percent.
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