Key Points
The government is mulling restructuring the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in sectors with slow progress, and even scrap it in sectors where investor interest is dim and not much progress has been made, According to two people aware of the matter..
So far, the progress of the scheme has been slow in sectors like IT hardware, textile products and specialty steel, medical devices, automobile and auto components, ACC batteries, and white goods..
The Centre announced the PLI scheme in 2020 under the aegis of the commerce ministry with an outlay of 1.97 trillion (over $26 billion) to support manufacturing growth in 14 sectors, especially those that help in import substitution such as specialty steel and drone components..
The idea behind the incentive scheme was to attract investments in manufacturing capacity, especially from foreign companies, and cutting-edge technology across these sectors, ensure efficiency, and bring economies of size and scale to make Indian manufacturing companies globally competitive..
The 14 sectors covered in the scheme were mobile manufacturing and specified electronic components; critical key starting materials/drug intermediaries and active pharmaceutical ingredients; manufacturing of medical devices; automobiles and auto components; pharmaceuticals drugs; speciality steel; telecom and networking products; electronic/technology products; white goods (ACs and LEDs); food products; textile products: MMF segment and technical textiles; high-efficiency solar PV modules; advanced chemistry cell (ACC) battery; and drones and drone components..
