Industry motivated to develop a local component ecosystem: Sudhir Goel of Acer India

The Indian arm of Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation Acer entered the country two decades ago and has been engaged in the assembly of personal computers here. Also, a participant in Production Linked Incentive (PLI) 1.0 for IT Hardware, Acer was amongst the only few companies who were eligible for incentives during first year of PLI 1.0 itself. Extending its commitment to India with the PLI 2.0, the company anticipates a significant rise in the local assembly of this product range.

Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India in conversation with Business Today, said, “Over the past two decades, our engagement in assembling personal computers within the borders of India has remained steadfast. We believe in developing the local ecosystem. So, we participated in PLI 1.0 by co-working and developing two Indian EMS partners. Not only that, but we were also the only few companies who crossed the threshold and were eligible for incentives during 1st year of PLI 1.0 itself.”

Speaking about value addition for locally assembled tablets, PCs, and computers since the introduction of PLI 1.0, Goel said, “Value addition is a long-drawn process as it needs a local ecosystem to be developed. We have significantly contributed towards this by enabling global processes and supply chain systems to our partners. Since PLI 1.0, we have taken many steps to increase domestic value addition. A few of the components where we have worked are PCBA, SSD, Memory, Adapters, Power Supply, etc.”

However, the PLI 2.0 for IT Hardware scheme is aimed at developing a local manufacturing ecosystem for most of the components. For each domestic value addition, there is an additional incentive. “Hence, the industry is motivated to develop a local ecosystem for more and more components,” adds Goel.

The PLI 2.0 initiative aims to enhance India’s domestic manufacturing landscape, particularly in the electronics industry. This strategy aligns with the Make in India initiative’s goals of increasing domestic value addition, reducing import dependence, creating job opportunities, and positioning India as a competitive global hub for electronics manufacturing. “However, this can only be achieved over time through phase-wise manufacturing. Incentives in PLI 2.0 are structured towards the same. We are optimistic that during the PLI 2.0 timeframe of 6 years, the local supply chain will become quite robust, and many components will be sourced locally,” adds Goel.

Goel praises the IT Hardware PLI 1.0 initiative, stating it proved to be a pivotal milestone, driving the industry to recognise India as a hub for high-end electronic manufacturing. This was one of the initiatives where the Government and industry worked together to move the supply chain to India. The scheme had some shortcomings, resulting in its partial success, and the government has come out with PLI 2.0. To further boost the participation for PLI this time, the government has also imposed restrictions on the import of IT hardware starting November 1, under which companies will have to obtain licenses to import laptops, tablets, servers and more.