Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said the industry should consider the measures under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme as initial support as going forward, the industry will have to face competition to grow further.

He asked the PLI to incentivize beneficiary companies to share their “constructive criticism and feedback for better implementation of the scheme”.

He said that the idea is to make India a manufacturing powerhouse, but there is still a long way to go.

More than 1,200 stakeholders, including government officials and industry players, gathered to review the progress of 14 PLI schemes.

The program’s incentives should not be seen as a crutch, “We don’t want to make you dependent on government subsidies. This is just a kickstart…

“The PLI program is just to give you a little push to get started, please think of it as a kick-off, an initial support (because) ultimately the competition will win out,” Goyal said.

“We are ultimately going to have to compete with each other and the world,” he added.

The minister also suggested that the industry gradually focus on global markets and move away from the “comfort” of India’s huge domestic market.

A more outward-looking effort will help increase scale, volume and cost-effectiveness, he said, adding, “We are also seeking your cooperation and collaboration”.

Addressing the meeting, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Rajesh Kumar Singh appealed to the industry to focus on value addition as the Gross Value Added (GVA) of India’s manufacturing industry is around 17.4 %.

Singh said this was not enough for a country that wanted to become a developed country and create a lot of jobs.

He added that questions have been raised about the scheme from some quarters and the government is working to resolve them.

Local value addition is happening in sectors such as mobile and white goods, he added.

Another commonly talked about concern is that in such subsidy schemes, industry takes advantage of incentives and leaves to receive subsidies while investing in the short term, but “in this case, the scheme design is such that it is “extremely unlikely” “The industry will leave.

Most importantly, this government believes in the private sector and has developed this plan in consultation with industry.

“This program will help you grow and thrive. You will be able to change the manufacturing landscape in India and really increase our share of GVA because (currently) for an economy that is trying to achieve developed country status in the next 25 years, This share is indeed too low.”

He added that the program may have some “teething” issues with documentation or reward issuance, but these are “nuts and bolts” of the story and “we want your feedback.”

The meeting was attended by officials from 10 ministries, project management agencies and industry players from 14 PLI schemes.

This discussion is likely to set higher standards for the achievement of the PLI program and facilitate its effective implementation.

The government announced the PLI scheme in 2021 for 14 industries including telecommunications, white goods, textiles, medical device manufacturing, automobiles, special steels, food, high-efficiency solar photovoltaic modules, advanced chemical cells, drones and pharmaceuticals, with an expenditure of 19.7 Crores of Rs.

The scheme aims to attract investments in critical areas and cutting-edge technologies; ensure efficiency, bring economies of scale to manufacturing and make Indian companies and manufacturers globally competitive.

The goal is to bring all stakeholders together on a common platform, foster a sense of ownership, facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience, good practices and success stories, and ultimately contribute to the successful implementation of PLI programmes.

These deliberations assume significance as the government had allocated only Rs 4,415 crore for schemes in eight sectors, including electronics and pharmaceuticals, as of October this fiscal year.

A total of Rs 1,515 crore has been disbursed till October FY24, compared with Rs 2,900 crore when the scheme starts disbursing in 2022-23.

Ministries review claims applications together with the Project Monitoring Authority (PMA).

So far, 746 applications across 14 sectors have been approved, with an expected investment of over Rs 300 crore. About 176 MSMEs are beneficiaries of PLI in industries such as pharmaceuticals and telecommunications.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)