DPIIT to support PLI investors to get faster clearances for projects

Speaking at the high level DPIIT-FICCI Investor Roundtable on PLI for White Goods, ShriAnurag Jain, Secretary, DPIIT, said that the government is willing to look at the Phased Manufacturing (PMP) plan for the AC industry to check the imports and increase local value addition and employment. He was responding to the suggestions made by some of the CEOs present in the roundtable to come out with the PMP for the AC industry.

ShriJain also mentioned that DPIIT will now ensure that all these investments coming up under the PLI of White Goods get approvals from the central and state government authorities on fast track so that targets set under the PLI are achieved timely.

ShriJain also said that they were in the process of fast tracking the National Single Window Clearance System aimed at Ease of Doing Business where all applications can be filed and tracked online. He also said that Government is fastracking FDI applications under Press note 3.

ShriJain further said that the PLI scheme has been designed such as to benefit those sectors where India can take lead and also to benefit sunrise sectors and make them ready for global competition.

Shri Anil Agrawal, Additional Secretary, DPIIT, while appreciating the efforts of the FICCI Electronics and White Goods Committee, said that the industry response to PLI for white goods has been overwhelming. The government took immense precautions while drafting the scheme so that there are no impediments to the implementation of the scheme going forward, he said.

Sharing the journey of PLI for White Goods, ShriAgrawal said that in almost one year, DPIIT has ensured that the scheme was designed and implemented based on the industry feedback and consensus across the value chain.

In the DPIIT-FICCI Investor Roundtable over one hundred and fifty CEOs/CXOs of the white goods industry participated showcasing the confidence of the investors in PLI. Many of these investors in component value chain are new ventures from the Small and medium sector who would now supply to the OEMs and integrate with the Global value chains, noted ShriAnil Agrawal.

He further elaborated that the impact of the scheme has been tremendous as manufacturing units in over 50 locations across India are coming up or will benefit from the PLI scheme of white goods in the component chain of AC and LED. ShriAgrawal said that these units are located in States like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Haryana Rajasthan and West Bengal (see table below).

ShriManish Sharma, Chair- Electronics and White Goods Manufacturing Committee, FICCIsaid our achievements as an industry with the committed investment exceeding 4500 crores from more than 40 organizations across Indian manufacturers, SMEs and MNCs for varied components of ACs and LEDs including the industry of aluminium and copper, is commendable.

He further said the collective wisdom of the Government and the Industry coming together for a common cause has boosted the confidence of both the Government and the investors. He appreciated the sectoral associations for their contribution which was possible due to the guidance of Ministry of the Commerce and Industry under the Atmanirbhar vision of the Prime Minister. He further mentioned that the PLI brings with it the commitment with a positive mindset ushering into the new era of backward integration with scale allowing tobuild competitiveness for export.

ShriJasbir Singh, Co-Chair Electronics Manufacturing Committee, FICCI said, “Applaud Government initiative for PLI in our sector. This would have a compounding impact on component landscape for our sector taking local value addition from current levels of 25% to 75% in next 4-5 years. This was missing link in our industry, and we thank DPIIT for rolling out this well thought of and uniquely structured scheme in such a short span.”

ShriArunChawla,Director General, FICCI commended the government and the industry for the resilience and actions shown in the past year.

The Investor roundtable, which witnessed participation from all the applicants in the PLI of White Goods with over two dozen CEOs of the industry, was organised jointly by DPIIT and FICCI in collaboration with sectoral associations namely RAMA, CEAMA, ELCINA and ELCOMA.

An Interactive Session on PLI investors was also attended by President and office bearers of RAMA, CEAMA, ELCOMA and ELCINA, – the sectoral associations.

About the PLI for White Goods

In pursuance of Prime Minister’s clarion call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ to bring manufacturing at the centre stage and emphasize its significance in driving India’s growth and creating jobs, the Government of India has given approval to introduce the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for 13 key sectors with total outlay of Rs. 1,97,291crore. Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) is coordinating the implementation of all PLI Schemes. DPIIT is also the nodal department for the PLI Scheme for White Goods – Air Conditioners and LED lights sector – with an outlay of Rs. 6,238 crores.

The proposal of DPIIT for the PLI Scheme for White Goods for manufacture of components and sub-assemblies of ACs and LED Lights was approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi on 7.04.2021. The Scheme is to be implemented over a seven-year period, from FY2021-22 to FY2028-29 and has an outlay of Rs. 6,238 crores. The Scheme was notified by DPIIT on 16.04. 2021. The Scheme Guidelines were published on 04.06.2021. Some modifications to the Scheme Guidelines were issued on 16.08.2021. Applicants were given flexibility to choose the gestation period either up to March 2022 or up to March 2023.

Applications for the Scheme were invited from 15.06.2021 to 15.09.2021. Total 52 companies filed their application with committed investment of Rs. 5,858 crores under the PLI scheme.

After evaluation of all the applications, 42 applicants with committed investment of Rs 4,614 crore have been provisionally selected as beneficiaries under the PLI scheme. The selected applicants include26 for Air Conditioner manufacturing with committed investments of Rs. 3,898 crore and 16 for LED Lights manufacturing with committed investments of Rs. 716 crores.

Six applicants proposing FDI from countries sharing land border with India have been advised to submit approval for FDI in terms of Press Note 3 (2020) dated 17.4.20 for consideration of approval under the PLI Scheme.

Four applicants were referred to the Committee of Experts (CoE) for examination and its recommendations.