HP's big local bet: Starts manufacturing laptops in India

The government of India’s 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' and ‘Make in India’ initiatives are showing positive results. After manufacturing commercial desktops in India for long, American multinational HP has commenced local manufacturing of laptops in the country. Laptops including HP's EliteBooks, ProBooks and HP G8 series notebooks are being made at the Flex facility in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This is the first time HP is manufacturing such a wide range of hardware in India.

 

“We were sourcing our hardware from our diverse global supply chain operations. The expansion of HP’s manufacturing operations in India supports our long-term commitment to India. It will enable us to better meet current and future customer needs while driving operational efficiency. As we embark on a significant step towards local manufacturing in line with the ‘Make in India’ program, we believe it will go a long way in enhancing our localisation efforts to deliver the best product experiences to our customers,” the company told Business Today.

 

HP partnered with Flex to manufacture commercial desktops from August 2020. Since then, the company has significantly expanded its manufacturing operations to reaffirm its commitment to the Make in India initiative. The proximity of the Flex facility to the Chennai port improves operational efficiency and ease of sourcing of raw materials for manufacturing laptops and other PC products. In addition to laptops, HP has also expanded its locally manufactured commercial desktops by adding various models of desktop mini towers (MT), mini desktops (DM), small form factor (SFF) desktops and a range of All-in-One PCs. These products have both Intel and AMD processor options and cater to a wide range of customer segments.

 

“HP has partnered closely with India since it began its operations in the country. As India made significant progress and emphasis on digital transformation, we have worked with the Government of India and state governments in their mission to empower lives of millions of citizens and enhance the communities’ quality of life,” said Ketan Patel, Managing Director, HP India Market. 

Some of these products qualify under the public procurement order of the Government and will be available on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal to meet the demands of the government departments and other customers.  

 

HP now also manufactures display monitors in India, catering to the growing demand for display monitors needed for hybrid working and learning.

 

Of late, there has been a boost to PC manufacturing in India. Taiwanese PC maker Acer said is planning to manufacture laptops in the country in partnership with Dixon Technologies. Even Lenovo has been expanding its local manufacturing capabilities across product categories including PCs, notebooks and smartphones.

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