Govt decision on IT hardware to create multi-billion dollar local production capacity: Industry experts
PCs, along with Rs 17,000-crore IT hardware PLI, will create multi-billion dollar local production capacity and import dependency will nosedive in the next 2-3 years, industry players said on Friday. The government has made it mandatory for importers of laptops, tablets and certain types of computers to get a valid licence, with immediate effect for security reasons and to promote domestic manufacturing.
It is likely to give some more time to industry players to align their imports in line with the order. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), in a notification, said exemption from import licensing is provided for up to 20 items per consignment for R&D, testing, benchmarking and evaluation, repair and return, and product development purposes.
«The pull to manufacture IT hardware, especially laptops and tablets, in India, started during PLI 1.0, and it bloomed further with PLI 2.0. We expect local production of IT hardware devices in India will meet 60-65 per cent of domestic demand in the next 2-3 years,» Optiemus Electronics Ltd (OEL) Managing Director A Gururaj told PTI.
OEL has permission to produce IT hardware under the old production-linked incentive scheme and will apply for PLI 2.0, for which the last date is August 30. Around 44 companies have registered to make IT hardware devices in India under PLI scheme 2.0, out of which two global companies have submitted their applications.
US-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise last month signed an initial pact with VVDN Technologies, under which they plan to produce high-end servers worth USD 1 billion in the next 4-5 years. Research Director of Counterpoint Research Tarun Pathak said the total laptop and PC market size in India is close to USD 8 billion annually,
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