The Indian government has welcomed 40 applications in response to its PLI Scheme 2.0 to manufacture IT hardware that includes all major firms said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of IT and Communications.
During a press conference scheduled on Wednesday, Mr Vaishnaw said, “PLI schemes for IT hardware for laptops, servers, PCs, which was announced a few months ago approved by the honorable PM Mr Narendra Modi, we have got excellent response overwhelming response for productions of PCs, laptops, and servers in India.”
He further stated, “The 32 applications have already been received and the window is closing tonight at midnight we met with practically all the applicants. All of them are extremely enthusiastic about making in India fulfilling the prime minister’s vision of ‘make in India’ and are absolutely geared up for execution geared up for ramping up production quickly, geared up for developing the supply chain partners rapidly. The enthusiasm which the applicant showed was phenomenal.”
Although, till the time Mr. Vaishnaw was addressing the conference, the total number of applicants was 32, the latest tweet by the minister indicates the final number as 40. He thanked the IT industry for the enthusiasm through the caption: “Big thanks to IT hardware industry for your commitment and confidence in PM @narendramodi Ji’s ‘Make in India’ vision...” Here is the tweet:
There is another small tweet revealing allocations and all in progress. The caption is as follows: “IT hardware industry captains are all set to make in India.” Take a look:
The minister also presented some significant mathematical calculations during the press conference saying, “Phenomenal enthusiasm is shown by applicants and we are likely to see expected incremental production which adds directly to the GDP. Expected incremental production is likely to be 335,000 crores over the PLI period and the expected incremental investment is likely to be 2,430 crores. This will happen within the first one, one and a half years of the PLI cycle and the most interesting thing is the expected direct employment, which is going to be 75,000 in these factories. We have an outlay of 177,000 crore rupees for this but we have received proposals that are significantly beyond this that show clear commitment of the global supply chain to come to the trusted partner that has been established in the world today.”
The union minister also revealed a few companies’ names that already have sent applications to the Indian government and assured that he has spoken “to all the applicants and they didn't raise any concern." He added, “The companies that will be manufacturing laptops include HP India, Dell International, ASUS, ACER, Lenovo, and Thomson to name a few. Servers will be manufactured by HP Enterprises, VVDN, Network, Lenovo, and others.” It seems the entire ecosystem is coming to India, as stated by the minister.
The minister continued saying, "Many of these companies will use the semiconductors manufactured in India. In fact, they were pleased we are starting with the manufacturing of memory first which is crucial for laptops. Companies have shared their detailed proposals. We are optimistic more will join."
The manufacturing of laptops will most probably begin in April 2024 as stated by officials as companies like Dell are migrating to PLI. Firms like Apple, Foxconn, Dixon, and Samsung have already shown good work in the manufacturing of mobiles, which infuses the government with confidence to achieve the same result also from laptop manufacturing.
