Working towards notifying new PLI scheme by April 2021: DPIIT

New Delhi The government proposes to notify the 10 new PLI Scheme by April 2021, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra said on Friday.

Addressing the virtual Panel Discussion on 'Inspired India' with Union government Secretaries, at FICCI's Annual General Convention, he said that PLI Scheme introduced for the mobile industry will be a game-changer and will push electronic manufacturing as well.

The government has already launched the PLI Scheme in the medical devices and API sector.

Mohapatra also said that DPIIT is also working to introduce a single window for investors, which will be connected with various ministers along with their IT systems.

The government's highest priority is to reduce the compliance burden and simplify the procedures that business must follow in certain sectors, he said.

Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj said that the government's focus is on the economy. "We are going to see an improved economic condition in the coming year," he added.

On the new PSE policy, Bajaj said that there has been some delay in the policy, and "it is because we want to create more ambition in the policy".

"The policy will be very ambitious, more than what is anticipated. This will bring a paradigm change in the way we think and do things in the government. The implementation will also come along with it," he added.

Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare said: "The single higher education regulatory body, the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will become operational from the next academic session."

He added that currently, the benchmarking is different for different universities for infrastructure and other things. "In the National Education Policy 2020, benchmarking will be done based on the same academic and research standards not based on governance. All the universities including the central private state will be benchmarked with the same criteria," he said.

Rahul Chhabra, the Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs said that Aatmanirbhar Bharat is not an inward-looking policy, but it is strengthening our domestic capacities to enable a level-playing field with our strengths to play at the front foot.

He said that 2021 is going to be critical as India will take the membership of the UN Security Council for a 2-year period. He added that the government is working with certain countries to look at resilient supply chain initiatives.

Highlighting the role of MSMEs in the global value chain, Chhabra said: "All of our embassies are geared up to look at opportunities that are available. We have around 190 offices across the world and we should be the front office for corporate India."