As India is keen to encourage local production of computers and servers, Samsung Electronics disclosed its plan to make notebooks in the country
to capitalize on the growing market.
According to media reports, including the Economic Times, PTI, and the Times of India, T.M. Roh, president and head of mobile eXperience business at Samsung Electronics, said the company plans to make Samsung notebooks in India in 2024 to meet local demands. He said that production will be at Samsung's Noida facility, adding that Noida is the second-largest production base for the company.
Roh told Indian media on his visit to the country that Samsung will continue cooperating with Indian central and state governments to help strengthen its manufacturing capability.
Roh's announcement followed similar moves by major notebook vendors, such as Lenovo and Asus, to expand local manufacturing in India. Lenovo, which has manufacturing facilities in India, is outsourcing notebook manufacturing to India-based Padget Electronics, a subsidiary of Dixon Technologies, under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware 2.0. US-based Flex is making Chromebooks for HP and Google starting in 2023.
In an earlier report in September, Mint reported that Samsung might invest INR1-2 billion (US$12-24 million) to make up to 60,000-70,000 notebooks annually at its Noida facility.
In 2021, India launched the PLI for IT hardware 1.0, which failed to attract enough investments for making notebooks, tablets, servers, and all-in-one PCs. In May 2023, India unveiled the PLI for IT hardware 2.0 with a larger budget outlay to encourage computer manufacturers to make products in the country. In August, India introduced import restrictions for notebooks, tablets, servers, servers, ultra-small form factor computers, large or mainframe computers, and other automatic data processing machines, which took effect in October and will remain in place until September 2024.
After India implemented the import management system, sources told Hindu BusinessLine that India has yet to refuse any application by importers, and it is expected that computer imports will continue to grow in the world's third-largest PC market.
Source: Department of Commerce of India, January 2024
