Government Launches Rs 50,000 Crore Plan To Boost Electronics Manufacturing

India launched a Rs. 50,000 crores ($6.65 billion) plan on Tuesday to boost electronics manufacturing, saying it would start by offering five global smartphone makers incentives to establish or expand domestic production. The government is offering a production-linked incentive (PLI) involving cash worth 4 percent to 6 percent of additional sales of goods made locally over five years, with 2019-2020 as the base year, technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a news conference.

Names of the five companies, which would have to meet investment and sales thresholds to be eligible, were expected to be announced in the next two months, ministry officials said.

Five Indian firms would also be selected for the PLI scheme, which, along with two other related initiatives, could help India produce smartphones and components worth Rs. 10 lakh crores ($133 billion) by 2025, Prasad said.