NEW DELHI: The government has provided funds in the budget for the Product-linked incentive (PLI) schemes as per the demands raised by various departments, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan told TNIE while explaining the reasons behind less allocation for PLIs.
The budgeted estimates for the PLI scheme for FY 23 were at R1,629 crore while the revised estimates stood at R1,663 crore. The budgeted estimates for PLI schemes for FY 24 have been reduced to R1,200 crore.
“PLI is a slow process. It’s not a new scheme, that’s why it wasn’t announced in the budget speech. Manufacturers need to produce a certain quantity and earn incentives under PLI schemes. Whatever the departments asked for has been provided in the budget,” Somanathan said.
The government has reduced allocation to PLI schemes in some sectors while eliminating them completely in a few. For instance, there has been no allocation for the PLI scheme to promote telecom and networking product manufacturing in India in FY24. In FY23, the initial allocation was R524 crore but later it was revised to R90 crore.
However, the finance secretary pointed out that there are sectors, where the allocations have increased manifold. He cited the example of the PLI scheme for automobiles and auto components, where the allocation has been increased from R3 crore in FY23 to R604 crore in FY24.
Meanwhile, in a separate interaction with TNIE, Amitabh Kant, Indian Sherpa of G20, said PLI is meant for a limited period of five years and that’s not a solution for India.
“Make India a productively competitive and efficient economy. You should be the least-cost producer in India. There is a need to scrap a lot of rules, regulations and procedures. Your infrastructure turnaround needs to be better. Your labour laws have to be better. All these are very critical things you should benchmark yourself for the best competitive economies in the world,” he said.