Google, HP tie up to manufacture Chromebook laptops in India

Sunder Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, in a tweet on Monday, said that local production of Chromebooks will enhance accessibility to affordable and secure computing for Indian students reiterating Google's partnership with HP to manufacture Chromebooks in India.

“We’re partnering with HP to manufacture Chromebooks in India - These are the first Chromebooks to be made in India and will make it easier for Indian students to have access to affordable and secure computing,” Pichai, who is also the CEO of Google said.



Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, also responded to Pichai's tweet commended Google's collaboration with HP.

"Good to see @Google plan manufacturing their chromebook devices in India." He added that the government's vision and PLI policies are fast making India a preferred partner in electronics manufacturing and most recent IT Hardware PLI2.0 will catalyze laptop and server manufacturing in India.

In a boost for the government’s Make in India programme, Alphabet Inc’s Google announced partnership with PC maker HP to manufacture the tech giant’s Chromebook laptops in India from October 2.

The devices will be manufactured at Flex’s facility near Chennai, where HP has been producing a range of laptops and desktops since August 2020, HP said in a statement. Flex Ltd. is a US-based contract manufacturer which has dedicated factories, besides HP, for laptop and smartphone manufacturing in India.

This move expands HP's India-made PC portfolio. In December 2021, HP started manufacturing a wide range of laptops in India, including HP EliteBooks, HP ProBooks, and HP G8 series notebooks.

The company also expanded its portfolio of locally manufactured commercial desktops by adding various models of desktop mini towers (MT), mini desktops (DM), small form factor (SFF) desktops, and a range of All-in-One PCs.

ET had earlier reported that HP, along with 39 other companies, had applied for the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in the IT hardware category which entails a total incentive outlay of Rs 17,000 crore.

While the PLI scheme acts as a booster to shift laptop manufacturing in India, companies are worried about the import restrictions slated to kick-in from November 1.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has opened the window for registration of companies seeking to import IT hardware such as laptops and tablets, where they need to furnish details about value and volume of import/export of these goods for the past three years alongwith their country of origin.