PLI expansion on hold as government prioritises existing schemes amid disbursement challenges

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India's production sops programme which powered a ₹13 trillion manufacturing boom may not add any more sectors soon in the wake of slowing disbursements, two people aware of the matter said.

While the government had earlier considered extending the production-linked incentives (PLI) framework to new sectors such as toys, drones, and furniture, the pause on fresh additions will allow it to stabilize and optimize the existing framework, the people cited above said, requesting anonymity. The textiles ministry, which had planned to add more product lines such as t-shirts and innerwear under the scheme, has suspended the plan, one of the two people cited above said.

Earlier, Mint reported that the PLI scheme for shipping containers has been paused, after NITI Aayog said building them locally may turn out be too costly. While the government disbursed nearly ₹10,000 crore in FY24under various PLI schemes, disbursements this year remain under ₹1,000 crore, according to data from the department for promotion of industry and internal trade under the commerce ministry.

Most claims this year are from manufacturers of electronics products, textiles, automobiles and white goods. Disbursements have slowed because many manufacturers were unable to meet the stiff production targets to access the incentives, one of the two people cited above said.