Incentives worth Rs9,721 cr claimed under PLI scheme for 9 sectors: Goyal

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that incentives worth Rs 9,721 crore have been claimed under the PLI scheme for nine sectors, including large scale electronics manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. In a written reply to a question, Goyal said that an actual investment of Rs 1.23 lakh crore has been realised till March 2024 across 14 sectors, which has resulted in incremental production/ sales of over Rs 10.31 lakh crore and employment generation of around 8 lakh. "Incentive amount of Rs 9,721 crore have been claimed under PLI scheme for 9 sectors, namely large scale electronics manufacturing, IT hardware, bulk drugs, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, telecom and networking products, food processing, white goods and drones and drone components," he said.

The production linked incentive (PLI) schemes are to attract both domestic and foreign investments in key sectors and cutting-edge technology; ensure efficiency and bring economies of size and scale in the manufacturing sector and make Indian companies and manufacturers globally competitive. He added that there is evidence of increasing foreign investment also in several PLI sectors. "For example, Apple, a global smartphone company, has shifted its suppliers to India viz. Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron," he said. Goyal also said that most of the projects are at the implementation stage and will be filing incentive claims in due course. In a separate reply, the minister said that settling PLI claims quarterly is anticipated to boost the performance and sentiment of applicants by improving cash flow, faster disbursement of incentives and enhancement in the efficiency of fund utilisation.

In a separate reply, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said that India has granted Geographical Indications (GI) tag to as many as 643 products as on July 24 this year, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. Once a product gets this tag, any person or company cannot sell a similar item under that name. This tag is valid for a period of 10 years following which it can be renewed. A GI is primarily an agricultural, natural or manufactured product (handicrafts and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory. Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin. "As on July 24, 2024, the office of Geographical Indications Registry has registered 643 GI applications, of which 605 GI applications are Indian," Prasada said. In another reply, he said that the Indian Patent Office has granted 1,03,057 patents in 2023-24.