Government releases Rs 2,874 crore to PLI beneficiaries: senior official

According to a senior official, the government has released Rs 2,874.71 crore to the beneficiaries of the production-linked incentive scheme so far, with most of the beneficiaries belonging to eight industries such as electronics, telecom, pharma, and food processing.

Rajeev Singh Thakur, additional secretary at the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), said that these eight sectors are doing well.

In 2020, the scheme was announced for 14 sectors with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore.

As a result of the scheme, over Rs 3,420.05 crore has been received in incentive claims from eight sectors - large-scale electronics manufacturing, electronics and technology products, bulk drugs, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, telecom and networking products, food items, and drones. More than Rs 2,800 crore have already been disbursed.".

"The next two-three years will be crucial and we hope that things will move with a fast pace," Singh told reporters here.

In 14 sectors, 717 applications have been approved with an expected investment of Rs 2.74 lakh crore.

A total investment of Rs 53,500 crore has been made, resulting in an incremental production/sales of over Rs 5 lakh crore and the creation of over 3 lakh jobs, he said.

Among the sectors that received the largest allocation was electronics (1,649 crores), followed by pharma (652 crores), food products (486 crores), telecom (35 crores), drones (30 crores), and medical devices (12 crores).

In addition to white goods, speciality steel, advanced chemistry cells, auto components, and textiles, the production-linked incentive scheme has been expanded.

In response to a question about plans to include more sectors, he said that different industries have expressed interest, but a decision has not yet been made.

"We expect that in the next 2-3 years, things will move at a healthy rate," he added.