After iPhones, India may soon start making MacBooks

New Delhi, January 02: After manufacturing iPhones in the country, India could soon start making Apple MacBooks in the country. Taking steps in this direction, the Centre is planning to increase the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware to nearly Rs 20,000 crore against the existing outlay of Rs 7,350 crore.

A few months back, the US tech giant had started making the latest iPhone 14 in the country and the government wants Apple’s manufacturing ecosystem here to grow rapidly. This especially comes at a time when several global companies are exploring a China Plus One strategy so as to not get caught in supply chain bottlenecks.

“We have tasted success with the iPhone production as Apple’s all the top manufacturers – Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron – are now making smartphones worth billions of dollars in the country. The next step for us is to get the production of MacBook and other products such as iPad in India,” the sources told TOI.

A proposal to increase the outlay of the scheme has already been forwarded by the IT ministry - the nodal ministry for boosting electronics manufacturing in the country. The matter now rests in the court of the finance and other related ministries.

Last month, iPhone maker Foxconn’s India unit became the first global company to receive incentives worth Rs 357.17 crore under the production-linked incentive scheme for mobile manufacturing. Incentives for the Taiwan-based company were approved under the target segment ‘Mobile Phones’ in the invoice value Rs 15,000 and above category.