PLI scheme hailed as India’s success mantra to be Atmanirbhar

On road to fulfill Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat mission, the Union Cabinet has given its approval to the Production Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme for 10 sectors, including the telecom, electronics and mobile manufacturing, under which businesses will get incentives worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in 5 years.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, while announcing the scheme said that the PLI scheme intends to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities and enhance exports.

It will make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investment and enhance exports, said the Minister.

After the success of PLI in the mobile phone division, now laptops, tablets, and other telecom equipment under electronics manufacturing are also covered under the PLI scheme.

Also, the automobile industry, which has been majorly hit due to coronavirus, receives the maximum incentives worth Rs 57,042 crore.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was quoted saying that India approved an incentive program worth 1.46 trillion rupees ($20 billion) to attract companies to set up manufacturing in India. “This is something that will immediately give greater impetus to manufacturing. The plan will help India become a global manufacturing hub,” said Minister Sitharaman.

The incentive program, mooted by the country’s policy planning body Niti Aayog, to reduce the dependency of importing goods especially from China. Companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and iPhone manufacturers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. and Wistron Corp. have pledged $1.5 billion to set up mobile-phone plants after India offered to pay them an amount equivalent to 4%-6% of their incremental sales over the next five years.

Lauding the PLI scheme PM Modi tweeted, “Cabinet decision of PLI scheme for 10 sectors will boost manufacturing, give opportunities to youth while making India a preferred investment destination. This is an important step towards improving our competitiveness and realizing an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”

Electronics Industry hails PLI scheme

Lt Gen Dr SP Kochhar, Director General, COAI

We welcome the announcement of PLI scheme extended to the various sectors including telecom equipment as it reflects the Government’s commitment to Make In India to foster inclusive growth in the industry by making it faster, easier and more competitive to conduct business. This is considering that the Indian telecom industry has been extremely resilient during this ongoing pandemic and has been playing a pivotal role in the survival of several other sectors, especially during the lockdown.

We are yet to receive details of the scheme from the DoT, however, we appreciate the proposed outlay of INR 12,000 crores for telecom and networking equipment and are confident that the Government would have designed the scheme is such a manner to ensure that the demand for telecom equipment from the local market is enhanced and remains robust as well as exports from India are suitably supported and incentivized.

Sanjeev Agarwal, Chief Manufacturing Officer, Lava International

PLI scheme will enable the Indian Mobile Industry to scale up their operations and compete in the world market. It will help in creating World Champions from India. We will be also investing according to the scheme and scale up our capacities and increase our international business. It will create huge employment opportunities for us and our ecosystem partners. It will be a good tool towards our journey of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’

Anand Agarwal, Group CEO, STL (Sterlite Technologies)  

We welcome the cabinet’s approval to include 10 new sectors, including telecom products, under the PLI scheme. We believe that it is a big step forward towards an Atmanibhar Bharat. This initiative will not only promote fresh investments but also create job opportunities. Going forward we would urge the govt to bring more industries and products under the ambit of PLI to build domestic champions.