Companies have invested over Rs 51,200 crore under the 14 production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes in the last one-and-a-half years, official data reviewed by FE showed. This is about a fifth of Rs 2.73 trillion investments committed by the 588 companies selected for the incentives, in an average period of less than four years. The trend is therefore barely par for the course.

However, incentives worth only Rs 2,400 crore have been released by the government under all the PLI schemes so far, which is just 1.2% of the Rs 1.97 trillion envisaged over five to seven years. This is because only two schemes — mobile phones (Rs 1,500 crore) and pharmaceuticals (Rs 850 crore) — have reached the stipulated threshold of incremental sales to be eligible for incentives.

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This and the fact that bulk of the investments have been done by existing players, who would have anyway had capex outlays matching the number quoted above over the period since the respective PLI schemes have come into play, casts a bit of uncertainty over the schemes’ traction. Also, large foreign companies have been conspicuously absent from the investors’ list. Most of the schemes were announced in 2021, and the implementation is lagging behind schedule for many.

Official sources, however, insisted the schemes are progressing well, and would indeed be catalysts for domestic manufacturing, in keeping with the “Make in India” plank.

However, one official said: “The utilisation of PLI incentives would be below Rs 1.5 trillion in the best case scenario by 2030.” This, he said, is partly due to various conditions manufacturers have to comply with to be eligible.

According to official data, of the expected production or incremental sales target of Rs 40.5 trillion, 11% has been achieved so far. Similarly, of the employment potential of 2.79 million under the 14 PLI schemes, 10.5% has been achieved so far.

Most of the investments have come in pharmaceutical drugs with Rs 16,199 crore or 35% of the projected investments of Rs 45,765 crore by 55 firms. Three firms under the high-efficiency solar PV modules PLI have already invested about Rs 10,440 crore or 34% of their total commitment of Rs 30,930 crore.

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Similarly, mobile manufacturing firms have invested about Rs 5,124 crore or 45% of their investment plans. However, some schemes such as specialty steel have not seen any investments so far against Rs 42,500 crore expected from 30 companies, including Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JSPL and SAIL. Even though the PLI for steel was announced in July 2021, the process started only in March this year with the signing of the agreements with the selected firms.

Similarly, no progress has been made by three firms chosen under the advanced chemistry cell battery storage PLI — Reliance New Energy Solar, Ola Electric Mobility and Rajesh Exports ― on their investment commitment of Rs 27,000 crore.