Minister Piyush Goyal holds discussions with 140 firms getting production-linked incentives

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday held detailed discussions with companies that are getting fiscal benefits under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

The minister engaged with 140 companies out of the 1,300 manufacturing units across 14 sectors, which have been the beneficiaries of the scheme.

"We had estimated that in the 14 sectors, about Rs 1.46 lakh crore would be invested...Our estimate is that we could look at an investment of upward of Rs 2 lakh crores being seeded through the production linked incentive scheme (throughout the scheme period)," Goyal told reporters here after the meeting.

At the job front, he added that originally it was estimated about 8.5 lakh jobs will be created under the PLI scheme, but looking at the numbers that some of them are saying, "we could easily look at about 12 lakh (jobs)".

"It was also our expectation that we'll see additional production of about Rs 11 lakh crore. But hearing some of the numbers today, my own sense is both for domestic demand and for export, the production also will be much more than we had expected," he added.

The minister said that the units in these sectors are doing good and now they are in a position to invest, even without further support to the component manufacturing ecosystem, because demand has started getting generated.

In the meeting, firms gave their suggestions including certain amendments in government procurement.

"Overall, the policy is the same, but there are certain sectors where the ecosystem takes time to develop, and initially the domestic value add is less. Gradually it goes up. That was a good suggestion, and I asked my officials to examine it whether we could have a roadmap for these sectors through which they can transition to become a class 1 or class 2 supplier," Goyal said.

The prior experience requirement to participate in a government procurement for manufacturers who make some products for the first time in India or an innovative item may pose a challenge.

"Obviously, if they are making it for the first time in India, or there is an innovation which is happening for the first time in India, it is very difficult to have a prior experience," he said, adding, "I have asked such sectors to get back to us with details so that we can take some technical expertise and its advice and see whether that same product can be through laboratory testing or other things can be made eligible to start supplying, being a new product or an innovative product without prior experience".

The government has rolled out the scheme in 2021 for 14 sectors including electronics, pharmaceuticals, white goods, telecommunication and drones with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore. It aims to boost domestic manufacturing, attract investments and increase exports.