In the 1990s and the 2000s, the world’s biggest tech brands were setting up tech offices in India. This decade, they seem to be setting up manufacturing units.
HP and India’s Dixon have signed an MoU to manufacture HP laptops, personal computers, and all-in-one systems in Tamil Nadu. The agreement was signed between HP India and Padget Electronics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dixon. The facility is expected to create 1,500 jobs, and the first laptops from the collaboration will be shipped in February next year.
“I am very happy to share with you that HP Inc and Padget Electronics have signed an MOU today for manufacturing HP laptops, personal computers and all-in-ones at a factory in Tamil Nadu,” said India’s Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw. “This is a major success for the PLI scheme under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s Make in India program,” he added. HP is among the world’s top three laptop manufacturers by market share, and Dixon’s share jumped 2.3 percent on the news.
“Through this partnership, we look forward to offering our customers in India an enhanced portfolio of domestically manufactured products that combine HP’s cutting-edge technology with Dixon’s manufacturing expertise,” said HP India’s Ipsita Dasgupta. The factory will be situated in Oragadam in Tamil Nadu, and span across 3 lakh square feet. At peak capacity, it will be able to produce 20 lakh units a year.
HP isn’t the only global giant that Dixon has partnered with to make electronics in India. Dixon has 17 manufacturing plants across India, and is a contract manufacturer for companies including Samsung, Xiaomi, Panasonic and Philips. It had recently partnered with Google to make the Pixel phones in India.
Dixon has spent plenty of time honing its skills in the electronics manufacturing space. The company was founded in 1993 by Sunil Vachani and is headquartered in Noida. Dixon had started off manufacturing colour TVs, and by 2008 was also manufacturing lighting blubs. In 2010, the company had begun manufacturing LED TVs. Over the years, Dixon has expanded its operations to various sub-segments of electronics, including consumer durables, home appliances, lighting, mobile phones, security devices, set top boxes, wearables and medical equipment. The company has manufacturing facilities located in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Andhra Pradesh, along with R&D centers in India and China. Last year, it recorded revenue of Rs. 17,691 crore, and employed 2,840 people.
And India’s electronics manufacturing has been coming into its own in recent years. Buoyed by the government’s PLI schemes, smartphones have gone past gasoline to become India’s fourth largest export, and the sector now employs more than 10 lakh people. And with some of the biggest global names like Google and HP queuing up to set up manufacturing units in India, the growth in the space might just be getting started.