The American Computer giant Hewlett Packard (HP) will manufacture its laptops in India. Earlier, HP imported components and subcomponents and did the assembly in India. However, it has shown an incremental shift towards increasing the local value addition.
While the pandemic hurt many industries, the market for computers and laptops was booming. Lockdowns made Work from Home an inevitable option for corporates. Likewise, digital classrooms became a necessity for schools and other educational institutions. As a result, the IT hardware and electronics industry witnessed an overwhelming demand.
So in 2021, HP grew spectacularly at the rate of 59% with its broad category of products, including laptops, desktop towers, personal computers, and display monitors. Though all the major computer manufacturers like Dell, Lenovo, Apple, etc., did well, HP registered a significant revenue of $3 Billion. It was indeed doing exceptionally well in both consumer and commercial segments, also gaming and lifestyle segments.
Ketan Patel, MD of HP in India, said that the growing demand in the Indian market and positive moves from the Governments are encouraging. It can be called a reciprocal move from HP for the Government’s Make in India initiative. The company will be manufacturing many top-end laptops in India, including HP’s EliteBooks, ProBooks, and HP G8 series notebooks.
The Indian Government has been actively pushing the manufacturing of electronics in India with schemes like Production-Linked-Incentive (PLI) for IT hardware such as laptops, tablet devices, personal computers, and servers. Furthermore, following the global shortage of semiconductors, the Government is also coming up with a $10 Billion scheme for localizing semiconductor production.
HP has extended its Make in India profile with its manufacturing partner in India, Flex in Sriperumbudur near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Flex facility is logistically well located. Being close to the port, it also has better access to other markets in Asia.