IT minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Wednesday that at least 32 foreign electronics companies have submitted applications to India‘s incentives programme to manufacture laptops, tablets, and servers in the country. The announcement comes weeks after the government put restrictions on laptop imports.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell Technologies, Asus, Acer, and Lenovo are among the businesses that have filed to manufacture laptops and other products in India. The “Make in India” initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration seeks to increase domestic manufacturing capacity. As a result of the restrictions, a number of foreign corporations are either establishing their own facilities or forming joint ventures with Indian businesses.
According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, the applications were submitted by the electronics industries under the country’s $2 billion production-linked incentive (PLI) programme for information technology hardwear. According to the minister, the PLI scheme for IT hardware is predicted to result in an additional investment of Rs. 24.3 billion and create 75,000 direct jobs.
Read More: UK to Invest £100m in AI Chips Production Amid Global Competition
The country’s trade regulator announced on August 5 that India will offer a transition time of roughly three months prior to the implementation of a new licensing scheme for the importation of laptops, tablets, and personal computers. This is a partial overturn of the sudden decision to enforce the licensing requirement with immediate effect, which had led to requests for a postponement.
The government stated in a notification that import consignments can be cleared without a license until 31 October and a government permit would be required for clearance of import from 1 November.
