NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday said the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme attracted investments of Rs 1.03 trillion (Rs 1.03 lakh crore) till November, which has led to production/sales of Rs 8.61 lakh crore and exports worth Rs 3.2 lakh crore.
This investment led to employment generation of over 6.78 lakh people, as per Rajeev Singh Thakur, additional secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Despite this, the incentive disbursement to participating companies has fallen short of the estimated Rs 11,000 crore for the current financial year. Delays in processing have been observed due to communication issues between project monitoring agencies (PMAs) and companies, as per Singh. However, the government aims to streamline the process. Though progress in some areas has been slower than expected, the mobile phone and pharmaceutical PLI schemes have shown significant advancement, leading to increased local manufacturing of various electronic components.
As of now, companies participating in the scheme have received `4,415 crore in incentives, whereas the payout as of September was `1,541 crore. The incentives have been distributed across eight PLI schemes, including large-scale electronics manufacturing, IT hardware, bulk drugs, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, telecom & networking products, food processing, and drones.
The scheme’s total incentive outlay is Rs 1.97 lakh crore, with the first set of payouts of Rs 2,874 crore made in the last financial year. Clarity on the incentives claimed is expected to emerge by March as most claims were filed by December and are set to be verified and paid by then. Individual ministries and PMAs are responsible for scrutinising claim applications, leading to delays due to communication issues between PMAs and companies, as noted by Thakur.
He expressed optimism that disbursements will increase as investment remains on track. Mobile phone and pharmaceutical PLI schemes have seen significant progress, with mobile phone production increasing by more than 125% and exports rising by about four times since FY 2020-21. Additionally, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has increased by nearly 254% since the implementation of the PLI scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing.