PLI Scheme Timeline For Smartphone Makers Should be Deferred

The Indian government had introduced the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphone manufacturers to make India a global mobile manufacturing hub. Many tech giants, including Apple and Samsung, had participated in the government’s scheme to earn cashbacks and incentives.

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But the companies were only eligible to receive cashbacks when they met their yearly targets. Under the scheme, any foreign company setting up its manufacturing unit in India had to invest at least Rs 250 crore and produce an output of Rs 4,000 crore in the first year for receiving the 6% cashback from the government. Simultaneously, the minimum investment required for Indian companies was Rs 50 crore, and the target set was Rs 500 crore for the first year.

Only Samsung could meet the target set by the government in the first year and thus is the only company that will receive the incentives. But the industry bodies have a problem with this.

Push the PLI Timeline a Year Ahead

According to an ET Telecom report, the top industry associations have asked the government to defer the timeline of the PLI scheme by one year. This is because nine out of the ten companies involved in the scheme couldn’t meet their yearly targets.

The nine concerned companies couldn’t meet their targets because of the disruption in the supply chain due to the pandemic. The multiple lockdowns in 2020 further escalated the time taken by the companies to set up production facilities.