The Centre on Wednesday approved an updated production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware, nearly doubling the overall outlay for the scheme to around Rs 17,000 crore.

The tenure of the programme will be applicable for six years and the government expects investments worth Rs 2,430 crore in the scheme.

"This move will help more Indian companies grow and they can combine design and manufacturing to become global brands. We believe that the final investment in the IT hardware PLI 2.0 will be more than what we expect, just like the telecom PLI scheme," IT and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters here.

In the telecom PLI scheme, the expected investment was Rs 900 crore for the first year, but it reached Rs 1,600 crore in just one year.

The IT hardware PLI 2,0 will help push Rs 335,000 crore worth incremental production and is likely to generate 75,000 direct jobs.

"Overall, we expect more than 2 lakh direct and indirect jobs via IT hardware PLI 2.0 scheme," said the IT Minister.

After the success of the PLI scheme in mobile phones manufacturing, the government has come out with PLI 2.0 scheme for the IT hardware sector that aims to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments and jobs over the coming years.

"PLI 2.0 for IT hardwar will be a catalyst for India's $300 billion electronics manufacturing mission, an important part of India's trillion dollar digital economy goal," said Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The cabinet's approval of IT hardware PLI 2.0 is focused on expanding India's production and presence in the global value chains of IT hardware/servers/laptops.

It will create additional incentives for companies to invest and set up their manufacturing base in India and also the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that incorporate Indian-designed IP into their systems and their products.

"We are working hard to deliver on PM Narendra Modi's vision to broaden and deepen the electronics manufacturing ecosystem to propel India to become a significant player in the Global Electronics Supply Chain and catalyze our Techade goals," said Chandrasekhar. [IANS/NS]