The government on Saturday said that a total of 22 companies, including Samsung, Apple’s three contract manufacturers Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron, Lava and Micromax, have filed applications under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme that aims to boost local manufacturing of mobile phones and components.
This is expected to bring in additional investment of about ₹11,000 crore in electronics manufacturing, while leading to total production worth ₹11.5 lakh crore over the next five years, Minister for Electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said on Saturday.
The PLI scheme, which has a budgetary outlay of ₹40,995 crore for five years and notified on April 1, 2020, offers an incentive of 4% to 6% on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India.
Of the global mobile phone manufacturing firms that have applied, three — Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron — are contract manufacturers for Apple iPhones.
“Apple (37%) and Samsung (22%) together account for nearly 60% of global sales revenue of mobile phones and this scheme is expected to increase their manufacturing base manifold in the country,” an official release said.
Domestic firms pitch in
Domestic firms that have applied under the scheme include Lava, Dixon Technologies, Bhagwati (Micromax), Padget Electronics, Sojo Manufacturing Services and Optiemus Electronics. “Ten companies have filed applications under the Specified Electronic Components Segment which include AT&S, Ascent Circuits, Visicon, Walsin, Sahasra, Vitesco and Neolync,” it added.
While international mobile phonemakers have proposed production of goods worth over ₹9 lakh crore, domestic companies have proposed a production of about ₹2 lakh crore. The firms under Specified Electronic Components segment have proposed a production of over ₹45,000 crore.
The Minister added that under the scheme, domestic value addition was expected to grow from the current 15-20% to 35-40% in the case of mobile phones and 45-50% for electronic components.
Replying to a query on lack of participation from Chinese firms, Mr. Prasad said, “This scheme is not against any country. It is only India positive.
“We have proper rules and regulations with regard to our security, the bordering countries… all compliance [is] very important.”
