The Electronics and IT Ministry on Tuesday approved sixteen electronics companies, including three companies that manufacture iPhones, under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, which provides a 4–6% incentive to eligible companies, on incremental sales (over base year) of goods under target segments that are manufactured in India for a period of five years after FY2019-20. The scheme, launched in June, is geared towards boosting domestic electronics manufacturing, and is budgeted at over ₹40,000 crore over five years. However, the scheme was delayed over confusion within the government about how much money each approved applicant will receive. The companies that have been approved: In total, ten mobile phone manufacturers — both international and domestic — have been approved. The international mobile phone manufacturing companies that are approved include Samsung, Rising Star, Foxconn Hon Hai, Wistron, and Pegatron. The latter three are contract manufacturers for Apple iPhones. The domestic mobile phone makers selected under the scheme are Lava, Bhagwati (Micromax), Padget Electronics, UTL Neolyncs and Optiemus Electronics. Aside from phone makers, the other six companies to be approved to avail benefits of the PLI schemes include AT&S, Ascent Circuits, Visicon, Walsin, Sahasra, and Neolync. The approved international mobile phone makers have proposed a production of over ₹9 lakh crore, and the domestic phone companies have proposed a production of about ₹1,25,000 crore, over the next five years. In total, the sixteen companies have proposed a production of ₹10,50,000 crore, over the next five years, out of which around 60% will be contributed by exports, the IT…
