New Delhi: India is rapidly emerging as a global manufacturing powerhouse, with industry giants like Ford, HP, and LG investing heavily in high-tech production facilities, driven by the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
No longer just a vast consumer market, India is positioning itself as a strategic hub for advanced manufacturing, research, and exports, reshaping its industrial landscape.
Ford Motor Co. is reviving its Chennai plant, investing ₹3,250 crore to produce over 235,000 high-end engines annually for global markets, excluding the US, signalling confidence in India’s manufacturing capabilities despite geopolitical pressures. Similarly, HP, a leading US tech firm, plans to manufacture all its personal computers sold in India locally within three to five years, with ambitions to export from Indian plants, leveraging the PLI scheme to compete with China and Southeast Asia.
South Korean conglomerate LG Electronics is also betting big, planning to shift production of capital goods — essential for electronics factories — from Korea, China, and Vietnam to India. Additionally, LG is investing ₹1,000 crore in a Noida-based global R&D centre, expected to create 500 high-skill jobs, fostering innovation and technological integration.
This transformation is fuelled by three key factors: robust government policies like Make in India and PLI, a young, skilled, English-speaking workforce, and a shifting geopolitical landscape seeking alternatives to China-centric supply chains. India’s strategic positioning, competitive labour costs, and policy incentives are establishing it as a parallel manufacturing hub, capable of serving global markets with high-tech products.