PLI Scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing extended by one year: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

In November 2020, the Union Cabinet approved the PLI scheme for 10 sectors.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on June 28, announced that the tenure of the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing had been extended by one year.

This scheme was to begin in 2020-21 and continue for a period of five years. The finance minister said that this scheme will now continue till 2025-26.

Participating companies will get any five years for meeting their production targets under the scheme.

"The incentives were applicable taking the base year of 2019-20. However, companies had been unable to achieve incremental sales due to COVID-19 related lockdown," she added.

In November 2020, the Union Cabinet approved the PLI scheme for 10 sectors.

These are pharmaceuticals, automobiles and auto components, telecom and networking products, advanced chemistry cell battery, textile, food products, solar modules, white goods, and specialty steel. Laptops and IT hardware were added to this list in February 2021.

The PLI scheme for white goods became operational on April 1, 2021. Under this programme, eligible players in the air-conditioner and LED manufacturing space will be offered incentives worth Rs 6,238 crore over a period of five years.

Over and above this, the scheme for laptops and IT hardware has a total size approximately Rs 7,350 crore over four years.

It also incorporates cash incentives of 4-6 percent on incremental sales made over the base year of 2019-20, for five years. This means that companies will be eligible for incentives only if they exceed the production numbers of the base year.