The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology today launched three schemes to encourage domestic manufacturing. These are the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing, the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) and the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme. The schemes have an outlay of Rs 50,000 crores (~$6.65 billion). The Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology welcomed the scheme; "MAIT is delighted on the introduction of this policy, the formulation of which was deliberated aggressively with the stakeholders," the association's president Nitin Kunkolienker said in a statement. "The mobile manufacturing industry is very positive about the move and this scheme will help meet the targets under the National Policy on Electronics, 2019. This will certainly lead to companies moving their supply chains to India. To increase the job creation, component manufacturing needs to be moved too." PLI Scheme Based on incremental sales from the financial year 2019–20, the PLI scheme will provide a 4–6% incentive on "electronic components and semiconductor packaging", with the percentage gradually decreasing over the coming years. PLI takes the lion share of the financial outlay, budgeted at Rs 40,951 crore over five years. The incentives per company, which will start being applicable on August 1, will be subject to ceilings. Cumulative minimums will also apply, meaning that companies will have to start investing soon, and invest consistently over the coming years, to be eligible for incentives. An Empowered Committee will consider applications, comprising the CEO of NITI Aayog, the Secretary of Economic Affairs,…
