Apple, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi keen on setting up plants in India: Report

Apple iPhone (Representative Image)

Samsung, Foxconn, Wistron among others are likely to apply for a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme nearly worth Rs 41,000 crore as India tries to woo smartphone makers to move and set up manufacturing plants in India, reported The Economic Times.

IT and telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated in a press briefing that the government planned to help five global smartphone manufacturers set their production facilities in India with the PLI scheme, which also aimed at helping develop five domestic manufacturing companies.

Prasad did not mention the name of the five manufacturing companies but officials told ET that major global players including Apple, Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Foxconn, Wistron and Flex had shown interest in applying.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Flex and Wistron, and industry associations such as India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), which represents handset brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Apple and Lava, and contract manufacturers such as Foxconn, termed the development as a game-changer for the industry.
David Shen, CEO of Wistron India, told ET, “Wistron is looking forward to further expanding our customer base in India”. Wistron makes Apple iPhones on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

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Under the PLI scheme, the government stated that it would give out a total sum of Rs 40,951 crore in a graded manner to these domestic and global manufacturers in the next five years.

“We have achieved a modest success in making India the second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the last six years and today we are announcing these schemes to make India the largest producer,” Prasad said at the briefing.

With the announcement of schemes like PLI, the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) and the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) 2.0, the government expects to generate employment for 15 to 20 lakh individuals in the electronics manufacturing sector.