IT hardware PLI: Eleventh-hour rush takes number of applicants to 38

The government has also revised its expectations from the scheme, and now is looking at attracting incremental investments of over Rs 4,000 crore

Six new applicants in 9 hours 30 minutes. That's how it's going.

As the application window for manufacturers who want to participate in the Rs 17,000 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for laptops, tablets, servers and other computing devices closes today at midnight, the government has received six fresh applications between 1 pm and 10:30 pm.

This takes the total number of applicants for the scheme to 38, including the likes of Dell, Foxconn, Acer, Asus and Lenovo.  As such, the government has also revised its expectations from the scheme, and now is looking at attracting incremental investments of over Rs 4,000 crore.

In May, the Cabinet had approved a renewed PLI scheme for IT hardware worth Rs 17,000 crore with a six-year tenure, aimed at boosting the domestic manufacturing of laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, servers, and ultra-small form factor devices. It is expected to stimulate incremental production worth Rs 3.35 lakh crore and create 2 lakh employment opportunities.

While the earlier scheme had instituted incentives of up to 2 percent of net sales of domestically manufactured goods, the newly approved version raises the basic incentive level to over 5 percent.

Furthermore, the new scheme also seeks to promote local manufacturing of smaller components in computing devices by introducing additional incentives of up to 3 percent for companies that procure domestically produced components such as memory chips, printed circuit board assemblies, solid-state drives, chassis, power supply components, and adaptors.