Global IT hardware industry players urge govt to postpone PLI 2.0 scheme

Information technology (IT) hardware industry players worldwide, including HP, Lenovo, Apple, ASUS, Acer, and others, have urged the government to postpone the new production-linked incentive (PLI 2.0) programme for implementation by one year, reported Finacial Express. Additionally, they urged the government to increase the scheme’s duration from five to six years. The updated hardware PLI will be put into effect by the government on April 1, 2023, and it will last until March 31, 2028.

Sharp shipment decline in the global PC market is the main reason these players seek deferment. During the July-September quarter of 2022, worldwide PC shipments declined by 19.5 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to 68 million units, according to Gartner, an IT research and consultancy company.

Since Gartner started monitoring the PC market in the middle of the 1990s, this is the market’s greatest decline. It is also the fourth quarter in a row that the market has declined year over year.

Industry experts have warned the ministry of electronics and information technology about this and said, “Given the challenges that many companies face and the sharp decline in uptake of IT hardware products as the pandemic recedes, combined with the economic recession in the US and Europe – which, in turn, will also lead to a decline in demand for such products in India – the timing of the PLI scheme for IT hardware 2.0 may be misaligned with the global trends.”

According to industry experts, it might be a better idea to hold off on the revised PLI scheme till things improve. The expert has cautioned the government against allocating additional money to a scheme that has already failed once.