It is being reported that Samsung has won the Indian government's approval to get various incentives, including a subsidy of 4-6% on sales, for manufacturing smartphones and other consumer electronics in the country. As a part of the ‘Make in India' program, the government has been trying to increase local manufacturing of smartphones, TVs, and other electronics over the past few years.
India had invited proposals from major international brands, including Samsung and Apple's local manufacturing partners (Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron). The government has now given them the approval under the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI). Smartphone makers will get a 4-6% subsidy on sales of devices that are worth INR 15,000 (around $205) or above. The base year for this scheme is 2019-2020. The Indian government expects these brands to manufacture mobile phones worth INR 900,000 crore (around $122.6 billion) over the next five years.
Although the scheme is open to anyone, experts believe that it has a requirement that is expected to benefit Apple and Samsung primarily. The government also said that the scheme would generate direct and indirect employment in India. It is also planning to attract more component makers so that OEMs don't have to import them from China and other countries. The South Korean firm had recently announced that it would invest $700 million to set up a display manufacturing plant in the Uttar Pradesh state in India.
Samsung is heavily invested in India. Its biggest smartphone manufacturing facility in the world is located in Noida, India. The company also has an R&D center in the city of Bengaluru. Recently, Samsung said that it will start making TVs locally in India from December 2020.
