Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted virtually with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai to discuss Google’s plan on expanding its electronics manufacturing capabilities in the country.
Indian Government issued a statement, according to which the Prime Minister appreciated Google’s partnership with Hewlett Packard (HP) about Chromebook manufacturing in India.
Recently, Google started its production of Chromebook laptops in India through a partnership that was forged with HP in order to majorly boost electronics manufacturing ambitions of the country.
Companies across the world are in an attempt to diversify their supply chains in the given unpredictable geopolitical times and this move by Google brings it among the most high-profile names to kickstart manufacturing in India.
The HP laptops that operate on Google’s Chrome operating system – otherwise known as Chromebook – will be manufactured at the Flex facility near Chennai. A wide range of laptops and desktops by HP have been in production since August 2 this year. The production has begun from October 2 and will serve the demand of affordable PCs in India which mainly comes from the education sector.
In educational institutions worldwide, Chromebooks have been the most popular laptops. They are yet to find mainstream traction in the country where laptops running on the Windows operating system continue to rule.
Google will be able to compete more effectively with this move against the Windows computers from companies such as Dell, Lenovo and Asus.
Laptops and computers in India are a big domestic demand which are largely imported from China. This scenario is something that can be seen changing in the near time.
Imports of electronic goods and laptops/computers have been on rise in the country for the past few years. In 2023, April-June witnessed import of electric goods increased to $6.96 billion from $4.73 billion in the year-ago period, with a share of 4-7 per cent in overall imports.
Personal computers are the category of imports which has the highest share. Imports from China stood at $558.36 million in April-May this year as compared to $618.26 million last year. Imports from China are roughly 70-80 per cent of India’s import of personal computers and laptops.
He also expressed approval of the company’s intentions to establish its worldwide fintech operations hub at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) located in Gandhinagar
