HP's Make in India plans focused on local procurement of subcomponents

As the Indian PC market shipped a record 14.8 million units in India in 2021, HP Inc. continued to lead the overall PC market with a share of 31.5 per cent. 

HP's shipments grew by 58.7% per cent YoY in CY2021. While the company continues to grow in both the commercial and consumer segment, until now, the majority of HP's hardware was imported in the country. The American multinational intends to change this with its "Made in India, for India" plans.  

The company has been manufacturing commercial desktops in India for a long time but it has now commenced local manufacturing of laptops in the country. 

Laptops including HP's EliteBooks, ProBooks and HP G8 series notebooks are being made at the Flex facility in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. 

This is the first time HP is manufacturing such a wide range of hardware in India. 

"We were among the first brands to jump on the Make in India bandwagon in 2007. And we were doing a limited portfolio with limited value addition, as we were importing components and assembling them at a period where value additions which were in the range of seven to eight per cent," Ketan Patel, Managing Director, HP India Market told Business Today.

"But what we've done in this recent manufacturing upgrade with Flex, is making sure we expanded the portfolio from a single desktop form factor to several desktop form factors, small form factor mini all-in-one PCs, displays, and, of course, laptops," he added.

In addition to expanding the product categories being manufactured in India, HP, like many other smartphone OEMs, is going beyond just assembly in India to increasing local value addition. 

"We are now adding the percentage of value addition, so it is no longer just about assembly. We are also doing a local procurement of subcomponents out of India and then adding them to our Make in India portfolio, making the value of the product created out of India better than the 7% level which we had in the past. And various products from our side now have a valuation ranging from 10% to 50%. Thus, various products at various phases," explains Patel. 

Another change HP brought in is - "Make in India, for India". Over the past two years, the company has learned that there are certain user patterns in India and environmental factors which the company need to be mindful of. 

"We can't just take a global product and put it in India. Eventually, if we do a great job designing products for India specific design needs, they can be leveraged in a lot of other countries with similar environments. 

And that will be our endeavour: ensuring that information is transferred within our organisation for some of the lessons learned in this country."

Some of these products qualify under the public procurement order of the Government and will be available on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal to meet the demands of the government departments and other customers.  

According to a latest report by IDC, HP commands a share of 32.9 per cent and 30 per cent in the commercial and consumer segments in India in 2021. Strong demand coupled with consistent supplies helped the brand in managing substantial growth in both segments.

Also read: HP makes its 'Make in India' push, starts manufacturing devices in India

Also read: HP, Dell dominate the Indian PC market in 2021: IDC report