NEW DELHI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - India's cash incentives

to boost domestic manufacturing have attracted over $17 billion

of investment since the 2020 launch of the production-linked

scheme, a government official said on Wednesday, amid efforts to

reduce imports from China.

The scheme, which offers 4-6% cash incentives on incremental

sales to manufacturers, was launched across 14 sectors including

electronics, pharmaceuticals, textiles and white goods.

"The PLI scheme has been successful to attract investments

and boost manufacturing," said Amardeep Singh Bhatia, Secretary

of the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

India has emerged as a global hub for electronics

manufacturing, particularly smartphones, and is now the

second-largest producer of mobile phones, he said, citing

Apple's ( AAPL ) iPhone exports - exceeding $12 billion in the 2023/24

fiscal year ending March.

The incentives have resulted in production worth about 11

trillion rupees ($131.6 billion) and nearly one million jobs

over four years, he said.

After reducing mobile imports from China by attracting

global players like Apple ( AAPL ), India now plans to produce more

laptops, tablets, computers and servers, official sources said.

On Tuesday, the government extended by three months the

"import management system", launched in November 2023, which

requires companies to register their laptop and tablet imports.

"We have signalled to the industry that we want to cut

imports particularly from China," one of the government official

sources, said.

India's IT hardware market, including laptops, is estimated

at nearly $20 billion, with nearly $5 billion domestic

production, according to Mordor Intelligence, a consultancy.

India announced the new system for laptops, tablets,

personal computers and servers after it rolled back an earlier

plan to impose a licensing regime, requiring the likes of Apple ( AAPL )

, Dell and HP to obtain licences for

shipments of imported laptops and tablets.

In the first phase, the government has approved incentives

for 27 IT hardware manufacturers including Acer, Dell, HP, and

Lenovo ( LNVGF ) to manufacturer in India, expecting production of about

$42 billion over the next few years, government officials said.

"India has a strong case for building its own laptop

manufacturing capabilities," said Ajay Srivastava, founder of

Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think

tank, noting that China contributed significantly to these

imports worth over $9 billion in 2023/24.

In India, rising incomes, expanding business activities and

education have boosted demand for laptops and other devices,

that favour local manufacturing.

Among local electronics manufacturers, Dixon Technologies

has qualified for the incentives scheme and hopes to

meet 15% of India's domestic demand by the fiscal year 2025/26.

"Dixon plans to create a capacity of 2 million units by

FY26, which shall cater to 15% of India's total requirement,"

Prithvi Vachani, Executive Director at Dixon Technologies told

Reuters.

Dixon, that has separate pacts with global firms like HP to

make laptops and computers in India, will secure manufacturing

components locally "in times to come", Vachani added.

($1 = 83.5750 Indian rupees)