Daikin, Voltas, And Blue Star Among 38 Applicants In Third Round Of PLI Scheme For White Goods

As many as 38 companies, including Daikin, Voltas and Blue Star have filed applications with proposed investments of Rs 4,121 crore to avail benefits under the production-linked incentive scheme for white goods in the third round, an official said on Monday.

The government in July reopened the application window for its Rs 6,238-crore PLI scheme for air-conditioners and LED lights to accommodate more players as several firms expressed interest in the initiative.

Of the 38 companies, 21 applicants have applied for manufacturing of AC components with a committed investment of Rs 3,679 crore and 18 applicants for components of LED Lights with a committed investment of Rs 442 crore.

Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Sanjiv said that the scheme is benefitting the sector as the value addition has increased from 25% to about 50%.

According to the industry, the value addition would increase to about 80% in the coming years.

He said that over the next three years (till 2028-29), 38 companies are expected to achieve production of about Rs 55,877 crore for AC components and LED Lights while generating direct employment for 47,851 people.

Investment footprint under the PLI for white goods scheme has increased from 16 to 18 states/UTs including Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir. In 2022-23, the government disbursed Rs 80 crore to the beneficiary firms.

"This time, many Indian firms have come forward to avail the benefit of the scheme," Sanjiv added.

The applicants include eight existing beneficiaries of the PLI scheme for white goods committing net incremental investment of Rs 1,285 crore.

He said that 30 new applicants have committed investment of Rs 2,836 crore proposing to manufacture varieties of critical components of ACs and LED Lights across India.

Manufacturing clusters are coming up at Noida-Greater Noida in UP, Neemrana and Bhiwari in Rajasthan, Aurangabad-Pune in Maharashtra, Sanad, Gujarat and Sri City in Andhra Pradesh.

The scheme has a healthy mix of multinational and domestic companies. Five additional foreign companies are investing Rs 245 crore apart from 15 existing companies investing Rs 2,287 crore.

"Altogether, the scheme is expected to bring in investment in the component manufacturing ecosystem of ACs and LED Lights industry to the tune of Rs 11,083 crore and generate about 80,486 direct employment," he said adding the scheme is expected to lead to total production of components of ACs and LEDs in India of about Rs 1,81,975 crore.

In ACs segment, several investments have been proposed to manufacture intermediates such as copper tubes, aluminium stock for foils or fins for heat exchangers and compressors which account for almost 50% of the bill of material for room air conditioners.

Several applicants are vendors for large manufacturers such as Daikin, Voltas, Blue Star and LG Electronics in the ACs sector.

Similarly, several applicants are suppliers of LED components for large LED light manufacturers like Surya, Orient, Crompton Greaves, Signify and Halonix.

The department in a statement said that applicants approved in the third round would be eligible for PLI for a maximum of three years in the case of new applicants and existing beneficiaries opting for investment period up to March 2023 seeking to move to higher investment category.

For existing beneficiaries opting for investment period up to March 2022 seeking to move to higher investment category in the proposed third round would be eligible for PLI for a maximum of two years only.

So far, 66 applicants with committed investment of Rs 6,962 crore have been selected as beneficiaries under the PLI scheme.

For manufacturing components of air conditioners companies like Daikin, Voltas, Hindalco, Amber, Pg Technoplast, Epack, Mettube, Lg, Blue Star, Johnson Hitachi, Panasonic, Haier, Midea, Havells, Ifb, Nidec, Lucas, Swaminathan, And Triton Valves etc. have invested.

Similarly, in manufacturing components of LED lights, companies like Dixon, R K Lighting, Radhika Opto, Surya, Orient, Signify, Crompton Greaves, Stove Kraft, Cosmo Films, Halonix, Chenfeng, Fulham, Adsun, Inventronix And Luker have invested.