HP Partners Google To Manufacture Chromebook In India

SUMMARY

HP will begin production of Chromebooks at its Flex Facility near Chennai from October 2

HP, which has been manufacturing a range of laptops at its Chennai facility since 2020, is also among the 38 companies which have applied for the PLI scheme for IT hardware

Earlier this week, it was reported that Samsung is also exploring the possibility of launching laptop manufacturing operations in India next month

The US-based IT hardware company HP has announced a partnership with tech giant Google to manufacture Chromebooks in India, providing a boost to the Centre’s efforts to shore up domestic manufacturing.

HP will begin production of Chromebooks at its Flex Facility near Chennai from October 2, 2023, the company said in a statement.

It must be noted that HP has been manufacturing a range of laptops and desktops, including HP EliteBooks, and HP ProBooks, among others, at the Chennai facility since 2020.

Commenting on the development, Vickram Bedi, senior director at HP India, said, “Manufacturing Chromebook laptops in India will allow Indian students to get easy access to affordable PCs. By further expanding our manufacturing operations, we continue to support the Make in India initiative of the government.”

Chromebooks are devices that are powered by the ChromOS operating system. Chromebooks are widely used in the education sector as well as businesses.

Commenting on the partnership, Bani Dhawan, head of education in South Asia at Google, said “The local production of Chromebooks with HP marks an important step in our efforts to continue supporting the digital transformation of education in India. We hope this collaboration will help accelerate the adoption of technology in more schools so that every student and educator have access to the tools and skills to pursue their personal potential,”

The development comes at a time when the Indian government has been looking to boost local production of laptops, tablets, and other IT hardware to create jobs and cut down imports. As part of these efforts, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) also notified restrictions on the import of laptops, tablets, and personal computers falling under the HSN 8741 category last month.

However, the government is now said to have called off this plan and will instead look to regulate imports.

The government has also launched an INR 17,000 Cr production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to increase domestic manufacturing. HP is among the 38 firms that have applied for this PLI scheme.

Earlier this week, it was also reported that Samsung is exploring the possibility of launching laptop manufacturing operations in India next month.