After setting up their manufacturing operations in the country, big global electronics firms are now preparing to set up mega campuses in the country, which will have a cluster of factories producing a range of their products, communications and IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw told Fe on Tuesday.
“Electronics manufacturing has gathered pace in the country. Going ahead we will see many global players set up mega manufacturing campuses in the country. These will be 100-plus acre campuses which will house several units,” Vaishnaw said.
Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ has gathered pace, the minister said that during his recent visit to Davos, several global firms met him and evinced interest in setting up mega campuses in India.
The minister’s comments assume significance as it comes a day after South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung announced that it will manufacture laptops in India. Last year in October, Google had announced that it will manufacture its Pixel phones in the country.
Samsung already manufactures its feature phones, smartphones, wearable, and tablets, in India and with the laptops will be completing its entire range of products. The manufacturing of Apple’s iPhones in the country is a huge success and the company is only deepening its presence here.
Under the modified production-linked incentive scheme for IT hardware, the government has already approved the applications of 27 companies such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Foxconn among others. These companies will manufacture laptops, servers, and personal computers as part of the scheme and will collectively invest Rs 3,000 crore.
Vaishnaw said that the government has achieved success in domestic mobile manufacturing, and is now working on a strategy for an export-led growth for smartphones and electronics.
“Today India has become part of the global value chain (GVC) of mobile phones and electronics. Now we are looking at a strategy of export-led growth rather than simply import substitution and looking at our needs,” the minister said. “A great opportunity has come our way and we have reached a level where we can rapidly grow our exports,” he added.
On Samsung’s move to manufacture laptops in India, analysts said that it will give the company a big boost in the enterprise segment and also in getting government orders, all of which will help it in building scale.
“Even if Samsung manufactures a small quantity of laptops, it still makes sense for it to localise. The company has a huge opportunity to close the market share gap with companies like Acer, and Asus in the consumer space,” Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint India, said.
According to Pathak, the entire laptop/PC category will get a boost in the near future as various artificial intelligence features will get introduced in Samsung’s devices, which will drive demand for its products. Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at Techarc said, “India offers a good potential market for any brand, and addresses both demand and supply”.
“Samsung currently is not a big player in the laptop/PC market in India. Its decision to manufacture laptops in India alongside other electronic categories, is a reflection that the company is serious about ‘Make in India’ and making India its manufacturing hub in the longer term,” Navkender Singh, associate vice-president at International Data Corp (IDC) India, said.
