By Shivangi Acharya
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian government met large global firms such as Foxconn, Samsung Electronics and Reliance Industries to find ways to boost manufacturing in the country with its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
The meeting, addressed by India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday, comes amid concerns that some of the businesses were facing delays in availing the incentives from New Delhi amid complicated procedures.
The discussions included ways to improve local manufacturing at competitive costs, higher domestic value-adds in production, and quick grievance redressal, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
The meeting was also attended by executives from iPhone maker Wistron, laptop maker Dell, telecommunications firm Nokia Solutions and others that benefited from the scheme’s incentive payouts.
The PLI scheme, introduced in late 2020, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s main industrial policy to boost manufacturing.
The government has so far announced incentives for 14 sectors including electronics and technology products, pharmaceutical drugs, and drones, among others, drawing investments totalling 625 billion Indian rupees ($7.62 billion) until March 2023, per the statement.
Investments under the PLI scheme are expected to rise further to 2.74 trillion rupees as it runs its course, according to government estimates.
With more than 1.97 trillion rupees earmarked for incentives, payouts totalled 29 billion rupees until fiscal 2023 across eight industries.
($1 = 82.0469 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Shivangi Acharya; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
