Role of MNCs in promoting India as leading global manufacturing destination will be crucial: Lenovo

Lenovo Group Ltd, often shortened to Lenovo, is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, business solutions, and related services. Products manufactured by Lenovo include desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, workstations, servers, supercomputers, electronic storage devices, IT management software, and smart televisions.

Nitin Garg, Director, Integrated Operations at Lenovo India, tells us more. Excerpts from an interview:

DQ: Elaborate on the current situation of the Make in India scheme.

Nitin Garg: The government’s push for Make in India is driving the electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India. Covid-19 has changed the way the manufacturing industry operates, and we will have to embrace manufacturing technologies to shape our company's future.

The government continues to take measures to climb the global electronics supply chain. They are coming up with new policies and incentive schemes for wearables and IT hardware.

The government’s PLI scheme, launched with the aim of incentivising manufacturing, is estimated to attract a capex of approximately ₹4 trillion for the next five years, and has the potential to generate employment for over 3 million in India.

With electronics manufacturing set to grow 30% this fiscal, the role of MNCs in promoting India as a leading global manufacturing destination will be crucial.

DQ: What is your contribution to the sector in India?

Nitin Garg: Lenovo is significantly expanding its local manufacturing portfolio in India, with a range of initiatives that will help meet increasing customer demand. We have also launched local manufacturing of its tablet computers, in partnership with Wingtech Technology, at a plant in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. This facility produces a broad range of Lenovo tablets that meet the needs of consumers, educators, and students, as well as those for specialized functions such as retail, manufacturing, and healthcare.

In addition, Motorola has partnered with Dixon Technologies at Noida, Uttar Pradesh to manufacture nearly 100% of its smartphones for customers in India and has also begun exporting to selected global markets.

Most recently, we have doubled capacity in our Puducherry plant with the expansion to a third manufacturing line for PCs.

DQ: What are the key projects under the ‘Make In India’ scheme? What is your offering for the local and global markets?

Nitin Garg: In India, Lenovo has expanded its manufacturing portfolio for desktops, notebooks, workstations, tablets and smartphones, to support the national vision to increase in-country manufacturing as well as to meet local customer demand.

In August 2021, Lenovo’s in-house PC manufacturing plant, in Puducherry, was expanded to include a third manufacturing line. This plant has otherwise been operational since 1999 when it was engaged with manufacturing desktop models. Since then, with the addition of a third production line now, the facility has begun manufacturing products across Lenovo’s full consumer and commercial range, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations.

Lenovo has also extensively invested in employment and skill-building and digitizing the facilities. More than 700+ direct and indirect employees are engaged across the Puducherry plant. All production staff are trained on various manoeuvres of manufacturing in a controlled atmosphere of a classroom first and then on the job under the guidance of senior staff members or online. New investments are being made to help raise the bar for sustainable manufacturing.

All products manufactured here are meeting global standards keeping the option of exports always open.

DQ: How is the PLI scheme progressing in several sectors, and what are the challenges ahead?

Nitin Garg: The PLI concept has expanded since 2020 with schemes rolled out for multiple sectors to boost India’s manufacturing capabilities and encourage export-oriented production.

With the PLI scheme announced, along with the increased focus on ‘Make in India’, we are confident that it will encourage local manufacturing, and further bolster the local PC market.

The ongoing chip shortages and global supply chain disruptions can provide major hindrances to this plan.

DQ: With global supply chain hindrance and Make in India still taking off, how should one manage semiconductors shortage, raw material shortage and hardware shortage?

Nitin Garg: The shortage is driven by strong demand, particularly in the IT sector and the electrical vehicle sector. While the pandemic and industry-wide supply shortage likely to continue, thanks to our strong partnership with suppliers and logistics partners, operational excellence, innovation, and strong execution, we expect momentum to continue stronger across all our key businesses.