According to the government, the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing and IT hardware along with the scheme to promote component manufacturing will reduce the country’s dependence on Chinese electronic products.
Addressing the Lok Sabha, Sanjay Dhotre, minister of state for electronics and IT, said that besides these schemes, the government is also taking steps to broad-base sourcing of electronic components and raw material. In addition, the government is making available the indigenous counterparts of the Chinese electronic products by promoting domestic manufacturing.
The National Policy on Electronics 2019 (NPE 2019) has been notified on February 25, 2019. The vision of NPE 2019 is to position India as a global hub for electronics system design and manufacturing (ESDM) by encouraging and driving capabilities in the country for developing core components, including chipsets, and creating an enabling environment for the industry to compete globally, Dhotre said.
According to Dhotre, PLI scheme for IT hardware has provision for incentive of 1-4 per cent on net incremental sales (over base year) of goods manufactured in India and covered under the target segment, to eligible companies, for a period of four years. Electronics Development Fund (EDF) has been set up as a ‘Fund of Funds’ to participate in professionally managed ‘Daughter Funds’ which in turn will provide risk capital to startups and companies developing new technologies in the area of electronics and Information Technology. Rs 4.09 billion has been committed through EDF to 9 Daughter Funds with a targeted corpus of Rs 26.26 billion, Dhotre said.
