The Indian government announced on May 17 that it will expand its existing incentive program to increase the size of funding from $1 billion to $2 billion (currently about RMB 13.96 billion) in order to attract large investors to produce IT hardware products such as laptops and tablets in India, according to Reuters. The program, which also covers personal computers and servers, is expected to benefit international and domestic companies such as Dell, Wistron, Dixon and Foxconn.
The program is a key step in India’s ambition to become a global electronics supply chain powerhouse, with India aiming to achieve $300 billion in annual electronics output by 2026. “This will provide additional incentives for companies to set up their manufacturing base in India,” said Rajiv Chandrashekhar, India’s deputy IT minister.
Under the revised program, which will last six years, the government will provide cash rebates to local manufacturers based on their sales exceeding annual targets. The Indian government expects the companies to produce nearly $41 billion in IT products and create more than 75,000 jobs over the next six years.
India initially announced the $1 billion incentive program in February 2021, and MAIT, an industry group representing manufacturers such as Apple, Dell and Samsung, welcomed the initiative, saying it would help meet domestic demand for IT products while boosting exports. “We believe this program will help the IT hardware industry achieve the same level of success as the smartphone manufacturing industry.” MAIT Director General Ali Akhtar Jafri said.
