White goods industry dishes out ₹5,866-crore investment plan

The government has received 52 proposals to invest a total of ₹5,866 crore under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods comprising components for air-conditioners and LED lights.

Companies including Daikin, Panasonic, Hitachi, Mettube, Nidec, Voltas, Blue Star, Havells, Amber, EPack, TVS-Lucas, Dixon, R K Lighting, Uniglobus, Radhika Opto and Syska have applied for the scheme, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade said on Thursday.

The government expects production of components worth ₹2.71 lakh crore by these firms over the next five years, it said. The AC component segment has received investment proposals of about ₹4,995 crore from 31 companies, while 21 companies plan to invest ₹871 crore for LED components.


ET first broke the story before DPIIT issued the release in its online edition on Thursday.

DPIIT estimates that the PLI scheme will help generate around 200,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities in the next five years.

The Union cabinet has approved an outlay of ₹6,238 crore for this scheme over 2021-22 to 2028-29. Manish Sharma, chair for electronics manufacturing committee at Ficci and president of Panasonic India, said the PLI scheme will make India self-reliant in white goods manufacturing. He said a healthy mix of Indian and multinational companies have applied for the scheme.

“For AC, we expect the local value addition will move from 20-25% to 75% in the next five years,” Sharma said.

Panasonic has made an investment proposal of ₹300 crore to manufacture compressors and heat exchangers.