Piyush Goyal holds talk with 140 PLI beneficiary firms, estimates ₹2 lakh crore investment

He also said that it was estimated that nearly 8.5 lakh jobs will be created under the PLI scheme, but looking at the numbers, some of them are saying, “we could easily look at about 12 lakh (jobs),” according to the agency report.

“It was also our expectation that we'll see additional production of about ₹11 lakh crore. But hearing some of the numbers today, my own sense is both for domestic demand and for export, the production also will be much more than we had expected,” said Piyush Goyal, quoted by the agency.

The units in these sectors are doing good and are now in a position to invest, even without further support to the component manufacturing ecosystem, as the demand has started getting generated, as per the report.

“Overall, the policy is the same, but there are certain sectors where the ecosystem takes time to develop, and initially the domestic value add is less. Gradually it goes up. That was a good suggestion, and I asked my officials to examine it whether we could have a roadmap for these sectors through which they can transition to become a class 1 or class 2 supplier,” said Goyal, reported the agency.

In the meeting, the companies gave their suggestions including certain amendments in the government procurement, according to the agency report. 

Challenges for first-time manufacturers

The challenge is likely to be for manufacturers who make some products for the first time in India or an innovative item to cover the prior experience requirement to participate in government procurement, as per the report.

“Obviously, if they are making it for the first time in India, or there is an innovation which is happening for the first time in India, it is very difficult to have a prior experience,” said Goyal. “I have asked such sectors to get back to us with details so that we can take some technical expertise and its advice and see whether that same product can be through laboratory testing or other things can be made eligible to start supplying, being a new product or an innovative product without prior experience” said Goyal, reported the agency.

The Indian government has rolled out the PLI scheme in 2021 for 14 sectors, which includes electronics, pharmaceuticals, white goods, telecommunication and drones, with an allocation of ₹1.97 lakh crore. It aims to boost domestic manufacturing, attract investments and increase exports, as per the report.