JOIN USCabinet clears Rs 17,000 cr IT Hardware PLI Scheme 2.0
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a revised production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware with an outlay of Rs 17,000 crore in order to boost the local manufacturing of electronic devices like laptops, tablets and personal computers.
The tenure of the new scheme is 6 years. It is expected to create direct employment of 75,000 and incremental production over the next 6 years is pegged at Rs 3.35 lakh crore.
Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said the incentive scheme is likely to create around 2 lakh indirect employment in addition to 75,000 direct jobs. “We know that the direct-to-indirect employment ratio is 1:3 in this sector. So another 2 lakh of employment will be generated,” he said.
Under this scheme, the government will offer incentives for domestic manufacturing of IT hardware that includes laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, servers and ultra small form factor devices. There is a separate scheme for incentivising the local manufacturing of mobile phones.
Hardware manufacturers like Dell, Wistron Corp, Dixon, and Foxconn are expected to benefit from this scheme.
The PLI scheme for IT hardware was first approved in February 2021 with a budgetary outlay of Rs 7,350 crore. The revised scheme is termed as ‘Production Linked Incentive Scheme 2.0 for IT Hardware’. The budgetary outlay as well as the incentives have been increased under the revised scheme.
“The PLI Scheme 2.0 will accelerate the domestic IT Hardware manufacturing ecosystem in India and enable businesses to grow beyond regional markets,” said Rajen Vagadia, VP, Qualcomm India.
“It will enhance India’s position as a global technology hub for companies to drive India-designed IP and explore new growth avenues,” he added.
Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the new scheme will help boost electronics manufacturing in the country. “By deepening and broadening the electronics ecosystem in India, this scheme will play a key role in catalysing India’s Techade and in achieving the $1 trillion digital economy goal – including $300 billion of electronics manufacturing by 2025-26,” Chandrasekhar said.
Electronics manufacturing in India has witnessed consistent growth with 17 per cent CAGR in the last 8 years. The value of production crossed the $100 billion mark in 2022-23.