NEW DELHI: The disbursal of payments under the Production-linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) has been negligible in the current financial year, and the government is clueless about the reasons why companies are not claiming the benefits.
Government sources told TNIE that there has been little change in the amount paid under the scheme till March 2024.
Till last financial year, the government had paid nearly Rs 10,000 crore, and this year the disbursement has been less than Rs 1,000 crore. Most of the claims for incentive payment have been received from electronics manufacturers.
“We have no idea why the companies are not claiming the benefits. In our meetings with them, no one has raised any issues as yet,” said a government official on the condition of anonymity. The same official, however, said that the government is not bothered as the PLI scheme has been achieving its main targets of getting investments and employment generation.
According to government officials, total investments under the PLI scheme have crossed Rs 1.5 lakh crore, while production/sales by PLI companies had reached Rs 13 lakh crore. The investment made under the scheme has led to the generation of 8 lakh employment.
An official said that though exports was not the main objective of the PLI scheme, it has actually resulted in Rs 4 lakh crore-worth of exports mostly electronics and smartphones.
It is to be noted here that the government this year increased the frequency of disbursement from annually to quarterly to reduce delays in processing of claims. However, sources say that even the quarterly disbursement has found not many takers. The government is now hoping that claims would come in the last quarter (January-March) of the year.
Industry insiders attribute the reluctance to claim the incentives to the huge compliance burden. In one particular case, smartphone manufacturer Samsung received an incentive of Rs 500 crore for FY21 in December 2023. The claims were delayed due to discrepancies found in documents submitted by the South Korean electronic major. The company got the amount paid only after it revised the claimed amount.
The government started the PLI scheme with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore in 2021. The incentive is given to 14 manufacturing sectors. In the July Budget, the government increased the PLI allocation for FY25 by 33% to Rs 6,200 crore.