Govt may further sweeten PLI scheme for AC and LED manufacturers

India could further sweeten the deal for air conditioner and LED manufacturers chosen for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods, allowing investments made after April 1 this year to be eligible for benefits under the programme.

Daikin, Panasonic, Hitachi, Voltas, Bluestar, Havells, TVS-Lucas, Dixon and Syska are among the 52 companies that have committed Rs 5,866 crore of investments under the PLI programme for white goods and LED lighting.

The scheme offers incentives of 4-6% on incremental sales of goods made in India until FY29. “Investments made after April 1, 2021, will be eligible for incentives for those who qualify in the scheme. This is because we had announced the scheme last November,” said Anil Agrawal, ad ditional secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Companies making the cut will get a one-year gestation period to set up their plants.


The scheme is fund-limited and the amount of incentive is capped. For air conditioners, the cap is the net incremental sale of eligible product (s) up to five times of the cumulative threshold investment in the previous financial year.

For LED lights, the net incremental sale of eligible product(s) up to six times of the cumulative threshold investment in the previous financial year is the ceiling.

The application window for the Rs6,238-crore PLI scheme for white goods was June 15-September 15. The department, Agrawal said, has appointed IFCI Limited to act as the project manager, which will evaluate the applications made. “The incentive outgo is likely to be lower than the expected payout of Rs 6,238 crore even if 50 companies get selected. The scheme is very economical,” he said.

In total, 31 companies have committed investments of about Rs4,995 crore for AC components and 21 companies have committed investments of Rs871 crore for LED components.


The scheme aims to make India self reliant in manufacturing of ACs and LEDs. Of the three components of ACs, India is completely dependent on imports for aluminium foils and copper tubes. The domestic capacity of the third component – compressor –is expected to rise four times to 6 million units because of the scheme.