Disbursal of incentives under the ₹1.97 lakh crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, implemented in 2021-22 for a five-year period, has been relatively lagging at ₹14,020 crore covering ten of the fourteen sectors, per data shared by the government.
The scheme, however, attracted actual investments of around ₹1.61 lakh crore till November 2024 and is almost on target in terms of production and sales. The investments generated production and sales of around ₹14 lakh crore, against the target of ₹15.52 lakh crore set for FY 25 and created employment of over 11.5 lakhs, according to a release issued by the Commerce Department on Saturday.
“As on date, 764 applications have been approved under PLI schemes for 14 key sectors. 176 MSMEs are among the PLI beneficiaries in sectors such as bulk drugs, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, telecom, white goods, food processing, textiles & drones,” according to a statement released by the Commerce Department on Saturday.
Incentive amount of around ₹14,020 crore disbursed under PLI Schemes for ten sectors, including large-scale electronics manufacturing (LSEM), IT hardware, bulk drugs, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, telecom & networking products, food processing, white goods, automobiles & auto components and drones & drone components, the statement noted.
This indicates that the remaining four of the 14 sectors, including speciality steel, textiles, high efficiency solar PV modules and ACC battery, are yet to get any incentive.
“Projects are implemented over a period of time ranging from 2 years to 3 years, depending on the nature of manufacturing and claims are usually made after 1st year of production. Hence, most of the projects are at implementation stage and will be filing incentive claims in due course,” the statement explained.
With just a handful of the existing sectors covered under the scheme performing satisfactorily, the Prime Minister’s Office has been holding back approvals for new sectors and not extending scheme tenures, the businessline had reported on February 9 2025.
“The message from the PMO is that the government should be focussing on improving the performance of the existing sectors covered under the scheme instead of expanding coverage,” a source told businessline.
Additional scheme
The government may possibly come up with an additional scheme to boost manufacturing, but the contours are yet to be finalised, the source added.
The large-scale electronics (mobiles) manufacturing sector has performed very well leading to higher exports, while a handful of other sectors such as electronics, food processing, telecom, pharmaceuticals and speciality steel have started showing some promise. But the remaining sectors are yet to catch up.
“PLI schemes have witnessed exports surpassing ₹5.31 lakh crore, with significant contributions from sectors such as large-scale electronics manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and telecom & networking products,” the statement noted.
