Industry hails PLI 2.0 for IT hardware, to boost laptop & tablet manufacturing

NEW DELHI: The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) on Wednesday welcomed the Centre's revised Production Linked Incentive (PLI) for IT hardware that included laptops and tablets.

The IT hardware industry is targeted to reach a production of $24 billion by 2025-26, with exports anticipated to be in the range of $12-17 billion during the same period.

The revised PLI scheme has increased its budgetary outlay to Rs 17,000 crore and expanded its tenure to six years.

With an anticipated incremental investment of Rs 2,430 crore, the scheme aims to generate an incremental production amounting to Rs 3,35,000 crore.

Moreover, the PLI 2.0 is expected to create 75,000 direct jobs along with over 2,00,000 indirect jobs, significantly increasing employment opportunities in the sector.

"This well-drafted scheme embodies Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to establishing India as a global electronics manufacturing hub. It will ensure investments across the IT hardware value chain, demonstrating the government's receptiveness to industry inputs and their determination to translate words into action," said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.

The scheme has also made the investment criteria more flexible, extending it over a six-year period compared to the previous four-year span. To further incentivise localisation, additional optional incentives have been introduced.

"This revised PLI scheme will not only foster domestic manufacturing but also likely benefit major global manufacturers of IT hardware products such as laptops and tablets. We urge the global industry to acknowledge this and consider India as a crucial destination for manufacturing IT hardware products," said Mohindroo.

Domestic mobile phone manufacturing has set a strong precedent of large-scale manufacturing and exports.

The mobile phone export sector has achieved 100 per cent export growth, crossing Rs 90,000 crore in exports for the first time ever in FY 2022-23.

Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group, CMR, told IANS that India today has the potential to capitalise on the significant opportunities presented by ongoing supply chain realignments.

"The PLI 2.0 will provide the impetus to boost India's electronics manufacturing competitiveness and potentially enhance its global presence in the value chains of IT hardware, servers, and laptops," Ram noted.