New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said that the government would spend an estimated fund of Rs 1.46 lakh crore in the 14 sectors in the country. “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 after holding detailed discussions with companies that are getting fiscal benefits under the production linked incentive or 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. At the job front, originally it was estimated about 8.5 lakh jobs will be created under the PLI scheme, but looking at the numbers some of them are saying that the government could easily look at about 12 lakh jobs,” he said.
“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. The units in these sectors are doing well, and now they are in a position to invest, even without further support to the component-manufacturing ecosystem, because demand has started getting generated,” the minister said.
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 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 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,” the minister added