Government to offer incentives for Dell, HP, Foxconn to make laptops locally

The Indian government has approved investments by 27 companies including Dell, HP and Foxconn under its $2 billion incentive scheme to manufacture IT hardware domestically. Information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the companies are expected to invest 30 billion Indian rupees ($360 million) collectively while creating 50,000 jobs in the sector. Approvals have also been granted to domestic manufacturers including Dixon Technologies and VVDN, the minister said.

The government had in May doubled the value of the incentive scheme to spur domestic production of laptops and tablets, following a lukewarm response to a previous programme. The country is offering cash-backs to manufacturers on sales of locally made goods that exceed an annual target. The scheme is key to India’s ambitions to become a powerhouse in the global electronics supply chain, with the country targeting an annual output worth $300 billion by 2026.

The decision comes after the government approved Apple, Dell, HP, Samsung and Lenovo among 110 firms to import laptops, tablets and personal computers under a new system aimed at monitoring shipments. India announced the new system for laptops, tablets and personal computers last month after it rolled back an earlier plan to impose a licensing regime, following criticism from the industry and Washington. Companies must register the quantity and value of imports on a portal, with an authorisation valid until September 2024.

The new system will give relief to OEMs such as Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung, which import laptop and tablet devices into India in bulk. Although some of these companies are trying to manufacture laptops and tablets in India to avoid additional tax levies from the Indian government, the current environment for manufacturing such devices in India is not on par with their global counterparts. The new incentive-linked scheme is aimed at boosting the manufacturing of laptops and other IT hardware.

Laptops, tablets, and personal computers account for roughly 1.5 percent of India’s total annual imports, and half of them come from China, the government data has revealed. The biggest importers of their laptops, tablets, and personal computer devices are Apple and Dell.

— Written with inputs from Reuters