Made-in-India MacBooks: Government may increase production incentive to woo OEMs – Times of India

Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron recently started manufacturing the company’s latest iPhone 14 series models in India. Now, the government is aiming to start the production of MacBooks in the country. Currently, India offers Rs 7,350 crore under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware. Now, to sweeten the deal further, the Indian government plans to increase the production incentive to nearly Rs 20,000 crore which can be a huge boost for the industry. With this, the government aims to provide incentives to OEMs to start production of MacBooks and iPads in the country. According to sources linked to the IT ministry, the government wants Apple’s manufacturing ecosystem to develop in India. This can be a good opportunity for the government as the Cupertino-based tech giant is considering a “China plus one” strategy for global product sourcing.
How the government plans to bring MacBook and iPad production to India
The sources told TOI that Apple’s top manufacturers including — Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron — are all manufacturing smartphones worth billions of dollars in the country. The sources also claimed that the next step for the government is to get the production of MacBooks and other products like iPads in India.
The IT ministry, which is responsible for increasing electronics production in the country, has already forwarded a proposal to increase the outlay of the production incentive scheme. The final decision on this will be taken by the court of finance and other related ministries.

Apple’s plans to increase production in India
Apple is expected to manufacture more devices in the country starting as early as 2024. Another rumour suggested that the company was planning to increase the production of AirPods and Beats headphones in India. Sources earlier told TOI that Apple is in talks with a number of its suppliers for the same.
Apple’s biggest supplier Foxconn and others are also likely to start producing Apple’s audio products in the country. This decision to produce Apple products in India and other countries will help the company to diversify its supply chain and decrease its dependency on China. This in the long run will help the tech giant to counter supply chain issues that arose due to Covid and other factors.