Cabinet okays Rs 7,350 crore plan to boost production of laptops, tablets and servers

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The Government on Wednesday approved a Rs 7,350 crore plan to boost local manufacturing and exports of IT hardware products such as laptops, tablets, personal computers and servers, the technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a news conference.</p>
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The production-linked incentive (PLI) aims to help the country export IT goods worth Rs 2.45 lakh crore and create around 180,000 jobs, the minister said.</p>
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It provides manufacturers cash-backs of between 1% and 4% of additional sales of locally made goods over four years, with 2019-2020 as the base year.</p>
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 “The focus of the scheme is to get global champions to India and to make national champions out of local manufacturers,” Prasad said.</p>
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The PLI plan is also likely to help U.S. tech giant Apple Inc assemble some of its iPad tablets in India.</p>
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy push in the electronics sector has prompted Apple suppliers Foxconn and Wistron to expand in India, and attracted Pegatron to invest in the country as well.</p>
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The three Taiwan companies have committed to invest roughly $900 million to make iPhones in India as part of a $6.7 billion PLI plan launched by the government last year.</p>
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The Prime Minister’s Aatamnirbhar Bharat strategy, coupled with India’s huge market, have also helped turn the country into the world’s second-biggest smartphone producer next to China.</p>
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The government sees an opportunity extend this success story in  smartphone manufacturing to other electronics goods. This will also help to save the huge outgo in foreign exchange spent on the import of these goods.</p>
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On the success of the earlier PLI schemes, the government said, the incentives for mobile phones and electronic components, launched last year during the middle of pandemic led to produced goods worth Rs 35,000 crore and companies invested Rs 1,300 crore under the scheme despite challenging times. Additional employment generation during this period stands at around 22,500 jobs.</p>
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Based on initial success of the PLI scheme, 10 target sectors along with specific product lines having high growth potential were identified by NITI Aayog.</p>
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The decision comes close on the heels of the cabinet approving last week a Rs 12,195 crore PLI scheme to promote local manufacturing and export of telecom and networking gear.</p>