New Delhi, Nov 18 : Top consumer electronics brands like HP, Dell Foxconn and Optiemus are among 27 companies approved under the IT hardware production-linked incentive (PLI) 2.0. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday that within a very short timeframe 'I am happy to announce that 27 companies have been approved for the PLI 2.0'. 'The best part is that 23 out of these companies are ready to start their manufacturing from day zero and the other four will begin production within the next 90 days,' he added. This will lead to an investment of nearly Rs 3,000 crore, additional production of around 3.5 lakh crore units, and direct employment of around 50,000 and indirect employment of around 1.5 lakh. 'This creates a very good base for the next big level of electronics manufacturing. We are around $105 billion (worth in electronics manufacturing) and moving rapidly towards $300 billion in the coming few years,' the minister added. This government aims $300 billion in production for the electronics manufacturing sector by FY26. The recently-introduced Production-Linked Incentive (PLI 2.0) Scheme for IT Hardware has an outlay of about Rs 22,890 crore over the six years. The PLI 2.0 scheme encompasses IT hardware items including laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, servers, and ultra-small form factor devices, aligning with the trajectory of achieving $25 billion in IT hardware production with exports projected between $12-17 billion by 2025-26. The PLI 2.0 scheme's architecture, offering an average incentive of 5 per cent over six years, alongside incentives for localisation of key components and sub-assemblies, is designed to foster a conducive ecosystem for IT hardware manufacturing. /IANS