DPIIT Urges White Goods Manufacturers To Seize PLI Benefits

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has urged white goods manufacturers to actively participate in the production-linked incentive scheme for the sector. Despite a muted response so far, the department has reopened the application window to encourage greater participation.

Additional Secretary Rajeev Singh Thakur, CII Consumer Electronics and Durables Summit 2024 in New Delhi, highlighted the need for more industry involvement in the PLI scheme, which offers significant fiscal benefits for manufacturers of air conditioners and LED lights.

The department has again reopened the application window for the PLI scheme for white goods—air conditioners and LED lights. The application window is open from July 15 to Oct. 12.

While the PLI scheme has attracted 66 applicants with a combined investment of Rs 6,962 crore, Thakur emphasised the untapped potential for industry growth and urged manufacturers to consider applying.

The government approved the PLI scheme for white goods in April 2021, with an outlay of Rs 6,238 crore to be implemented over seven years. The scheme aims to boost domestic manufacturing of components and sub-assemblies for air conditioners and LED lights.

Thakur also shared the DPIIT's willingness to address industry concerns related to quality control orders and logistics. He encouraged manufacturers to invest in India, citing the government's increased capital expenditure and efforts to improve the ease of doing business.

While public capital has surged in recent years, Thakur noted that the private sector's response has not been commensurate with the opportunities available. He urged businesses to seize the moment and contribute to India's economic growth.

Earlier speaking at the event, DPIIT Secretary Amardeep Singh Bhatia said that a lot of steps have been taken to promote ease of doing business, cutting down compliance burden and decriminalisation of minor offences.

The government has also recently approved 12 industrial townships and the industry can look at investing there.

He added that capital availability is not an issue now and the government has also provided protection to the industry from predatory imports.

Schemes like PLI and semiconductor mission have been rolled out to promote manufacturing and 'now we want the industry' to ensure that they have necessary collaborations in place for technology and investments.

The industry should do collaborations not only to target the domestic market but also become part of global value chains.

"That is an expectation we are having from the entire industry and I think industry will rise to meet these expectations... We have a huge demographic dividend and the industry should take advantage of this otherwise we will miss it," Bhatia added.

He also said that there is no paucity of adequate skilled labour in the country and logistics costs too are coming down.

On logistics, he cited examples of Amazon and Flipkart selling goods in the remotest part of the country.

"I don't think industry should look at the current domestic demand only for collaborations. They should look at the future and export market also in addition to the domestic market," he said, adding expenditure on research and development is 'abysmally' low and that needs to be enhanced.

(With inputs from PTI)