How India plans to strengthen PLI schemes to take on China’s manufacturing prowess

In a bid to compete with China’s manufacturing prowess, India will fast-track permissions and handhold investors putting up capacities under the various production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. 

Officials in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Niti Aayog and the finance ministry, among others, met last week for a status check with PLI investments having crossed the Rs 25,000 crore March target, The Economic Times reported.

The holistic review of the scheme that neared two years showed that while some sectors had outperformed, others were lagging.

A streamlined process is also expected to avoid misuse of the Rs 1.97 lakh crore proposed PLI incentives. The sector schemes are implemented by the concerned ministry and started to roll out in FY22, the report said. 

For how many schemes have PLI schemes been announced in India?

PLI schemes have been announced for 14 so-called champion sectors so far, but they are progressing at varying rates, the report said. 

Investors committed Rs 2.34 lakh crore PLI investments as of March 2022 with automobile and auto components, advanced chemistry cell batteries, specialty steel and high-efficiency solar panels generating greater interest. The other PLI sectors are drones, white goods, textiles, telecom and networking products, food products, and medical devices.

How many jobs is the government looking to generate?

This level of investment is expected to generate 6.4 million jobs over the next five years.

By the end of March 2022, eligible applicants had already invested Rs 26,000 crore.

How have PLI schemes done since 2021?

Among the new PLI schemes approved in 2021, the one for food processing is progressing fast because of quicker approvals and incentive disbursements are expected this fiscal.

The PLI schemes for mobiles, electronics components, and pharmaceuticals were announced in 2020 and hence are ahead of others. In the white goods sector, 15 companies out of 64 approved are in the production phase while the remaining 49 are in the process of making committed investments.