The disbursements under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) is expected to pick up in the January-March period after the dull first three quarters of the current fiscal year, but these will still fall short of Rs 11,000 crore target for this year, a senior official said Monday.
“Our target for this year remains at Rs 11,000 crore. A lot of disbursements will come in the last quarter. Many projects are in gestation period but (it seems) we may fall short of the target,” the official, who did not wish to be named said.
Of the total Rs 1.97 trillion outlay for the scheme that was launched in 2020, Rs 2900 crore has been given to the selected companies for meeting production targets last year. This year so far the Empowered Committee on PLI headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Niti Aayog has approved incentives worth Rs 1,000 crore for companies in ‘large scale electronics’ manufacturing but actual disbursement is yet to take place. This will take the overall disbursements under the scheme to Rs 3900 crore.
In PLI for White Goods that covers parts of air conditioners and LEDs which is under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry disbursement of about Rs 79 crore is expected in the last quarter of the financial year, the official added.
Under the PLI scheme the support is given for five years for new units which are selected after a bidding process.
Under the scheme that covers 14 sectors, 733 applications have been approved and investments of Rs 78000 crore have been made. PLI applicants have also generated incremental sales of Rs 6 lakh crore and Rs 2.6 lakh crore worth of exports.
The government is looking at bringing PLI for toys, parts of new age bicycles, leather and footwear. There is also talk of a new version of the PLI scheme for advanced steel manufacturing and chemicals and petrochemicals.
“The general review of the PLI scheme is taking place after which the call will be taken on the extension of the scheme to other sectors or changes in the existing ones” the official said.
“The government is taking stock of the progress of the scheme. Progress is better in some sectors and in other areas some changes are required. Inter ministerial discussions are on,” he added.
The two meetings on the review of the scheme have been held.
PLI schemes for telecom, electronics manufacturing, food processing, pharma, medical devices and white goods are doing well while others like in speciality steel need more push.