Companies want separate 3% PLI incentives for PCB making | Economic Times

New Delhi: Electronics manufacturers have urged the government to introduce a separate production-linked incentive (PLI) of 3% on assembly of printed circuit boards (PCBs), which presents an export opportunity of $109 billion, second only to mobile phones, over the next five years.In a letter written to the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) on December 19, the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA) sought a Rs 15,000-crore incentive package strictly for export of PCBAs and barring of products such as mobile phones and laptops which are already claiming PLI.“Now that India has achieved scale in production of mobile handsets, and is on track to attract investments for other product categories such as laptops, tablets, etc., it is time that we drive down the value chain and start focusing on sub-assemblies,” ICEA chairman Pankaj Mohindroo told ET. “PCBAs are extremely low-hanging fruits which do not require high investments and India has already proven capability by achieving 100% local sourcing of PCBA for mobile phones, close to `80,000 crore.”The current 2% incentive on PCBA under the Merchandise Exports Incentive Scheme (MEIS) is set to expire on December 31, while the new rates under Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Products (RoDTEP) have not been announced yet. With adequate support of PLI and RoDTEP on PCBAs, India could contribute 18% to the global PCBA market, which is currently worth $600 billion, said the ICEA letter.In fact, it said China, the world’s largest electronics producer, could be importing 30% of India made PCBAs in the future. A PCB is the backbone of any electronic device over which other components such as sensor and display are mounted or assembled.- It accounts for nearly 45% of the total bill of materials in a mobile phone, 40% in laptops, 20% in TVs and 10% in other appliances such as washing machines. The National Policy on Electronics 2019 envisages total production of electronics in India to the tune of $400 billion by 2025.79984990Nearly $110 billion of this is expected to come from mobile phones. “Even if 13% of this target comes from laptops, tablets and another 22% from industrial electronics, we are still short of $35-40 billion,” said Mohindroo. “We believe PCBA is the easiest category to make up for the shortfall.