Samsung, Foxconn, Lava among 16 cos to get nod for govt's PLI scheme for phone manufacturing

The government on Tuesday approved 16 applicants under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI)  for large scale electronics manufacturing. The scheme provides for an incentive of 4 per cent to 6 per cent on incremental sales of goods under target segments that are manufactured in India to eligible companies for a period of five years.

Under the Mobile Phone (domestic companies) segment, Indian companies including Lava, Bhagwati (Micromax), Padget Electronics, UTL Neolyncs and Optiemus Electronics are approved by the Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology (MeitY).

The international mobile phone manufacturing companies that are approved under the Mobile Phone (invoice value Rs 15,000 and above) segment are Samsung, Foxconn Hon Hai, Rising Star, Wistron and Pegatron. Of these, 3 companies namely Foxconn Hon Hai, Wistron and Pegatron are contract manufacturers for Apple iPhones. Apple and Samsung together account for nearly 60 per cent of global sales revenue of mobile phones.

Six companies approved under the Specified Electronic Components segment include AT&S, Ascent Circuits, Visicon, Walsin, Sahasra, and Neolync.

"We are optimistic and looking forward to building a strong ecosystem across the value chain and integrating with the global value chains, thereby strengthening electronics manufacturing ecosystem in the country," said Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Communications, Law and Justice.

Meanwhile, the PLI scheme aims to make India the manufacturing hub for smartphones. After the scheme was announced Apple started producing its latest models iPhone 11 and iPhone SE shortly after in India. The scheme also aims to attract manufacturers who are looking to move out of China amid the China-US trade tensions.

Also read: Foxconn, Samsung, others target exports worth $100 billion from India