India launches $2 Billion incentive to attract laptop makers including Apple

New Delhi: Speeding up efforts to become a manufacturing hub, India is to offer a huge financial incentive to companies that make laptops, tablets and other hardware, Bloomberg reports.

The moves comes after Modi government’s success in bringing to the nation Apple Inc.'s local assembly operations.

India will offer 170 billion rupee or $2.1 billion financial incentive as companies are planning to ‘diversify supply chains beyond China’, according to the report.

Apple Inc.'s local assembly plans made India a potential global manufacturing hub other than China.

‘India has crossed a huge landmark in mobile phones with exports of $11 billion in the past year,’ India's technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.

India is eying at emerging possibilities of drawing in production in the wake of US-China trade war, which along with Covid restrictions made China an uninspiring location.

India’s fresh incentives could push Apple to begin manufacturing laptops in India, even as the offer is expected to attract companies including Dell Technologies Inc., HP Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc

The plan will offer a cashback of 5 percent to companies ‘ on factory prices of finished products’, according to the report.

In 2021, India launched a 73.5 billion programme to attract tech manufactures which however did not take off after companies perceived it as too small.