Centre to roll out PLI scheme for ACs, LEDs

NEW DELHI: The commerce and industry ministry will formally launch the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for air conditioners (ACs) and LED lights worth ₹6,238 crore on April 1, with the finance ministry approving the proposal.

Last March, the government announced PLI schemes for three sectors, mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronics components, drug intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical devices, worth ₹51,355 crore. In November, it added 10 more sectors to the list with additional committed incentive of ₹1.46 lakh crore to boost local manufacturing.

“We are quite hopeful that before end of this financial year (on March 31), all PLI schemes would have received cabinet approval and would be notified. We have done extensive stakeholder consultations with airconditioner and LED players,” department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra said on Friday.

Mohapatra said the PLI scheme will be a game changer in the country, where the focus is not only on manufacturing locally but also for the world. “So, India can manufacture products of certain quality and scale, which will make it a global champion. We are actively monitoring about 1,000 companies globally, which are either already in India and trying to expand or are thinking of entering. We will handhold them through the investment promotion division of this ministry, Invest India and project development cells of ministries,” he said.

Over five years, the scheme is expected to lead to incremental production worth ₹1.7 lakh crore, exports worth ₹64,400 crore with additional employment generation of more than 100,000 jobs. The scheme is also expected to generate revenue of ₹11,300 crore and ₹38,000 crore, respectively through direct tax and goods and services tax over the five-year period. The scheme for white goods will extend an incentive of 4-6% on incremental sales over the base year (2019-20) for goods manufactured in India and covered under target segments to eligible companies.

This will be subject to them fulfilling the threshold conditions of cumulative incremental investment over the base year and incremental sales of manufactured goods (as distinct from traded goods) over the base year for the respective year, for five years subsequent to the base year and one year of gestation period.

The scheme will be launched on 1 April and will remain open for applications for six months initially, which may be extended if required, DPIIT said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week invited global firms to take advantage of the ₹1.97 lakh crore PLI schemes and expand their manufacturing in India, assuring that the country’s aspiration to become self-reliant will strengthen globalism.

“We are moving ahead with the promise of becoming selfreliant. India’s aspiration to become self-reliant will strengthen globalism in new ways. India has the capacity, capability, and reliability to strengthen the global supply chain. India has a very large consumer base and the more it expands, the better it is for the global economy,” the prime minister told top global chief executive officers at the Davos Dialogue 2021, organized by the World Economic Forum, through a video conference.

The scheme will offer a 4-6% incentive on additional sales of white goods.