7 new PLI schemes recently approved; MSMEs to benefit

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal, has announced that seven new Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes that were weren’t part of the original programme have been approved. 

Addressing IIM Ahmedabad’s Red Brick Summit 2022 virtually from Delhi, the minister said that the PLI programme has been well received and it aims to promote champion sectors with comparative and competitive advantages. He also said that India must abandon the mindset of subsidies and build a resilient and self-reliant business ecosystem.

The minister observed that micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will benefit from the PLI scheme because a large industry has brought along an ecosystem of manufacturers and service providers. “The mainstay of India is MSMEs and they’re being fed by a large industry, which aggregates the work of our MSMEs. They get more opportunities," he said. Every PLI scheme is carefully and thoroughly assessed by the industry before formulation. It’s just a kick-start mechanism; so it needs to have a sunset clause because it will make the industry viable and independent, he said.

He also said that 5G rollout in India would boost the nation’s aspirations for growth and that the enthusiasm surrounding the launch was truly empowering.

India’s youth has made the nation very proud with their ingenious ideas and they have inculcated the spirit of enquiry, said the minister. He admired the simplicity and brilliance of the innovations of countless startups. This has pushed India's rank in the Global Innovation Index, from 81 in 2015 to 40 in 2022, making the government proud, he said.   

The minister highlighted India’s green energy push and said that India is one of the few countries that has exceeded the clean-energy commitment made in Paris in 2015. "We committed to 175 GW of clean energy. We have now upped the ante to set a target of 500 GW and we are well on track to achieve it," he said. The energy mix is expected to be predominantly renewable by 2030. The industry has been working on newer technologies such as green hydrogen to ensure a constant supply of renewable energy.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an international solar grid, the minister spoke about the efforts to collaborate with likeminded nations to create the same. He also said the prime minister strongly believes in inter-generational equity—we do not have the right to take away the natural resources of the world and leave behind a problem for future generations.