Govt mulls tweaks to PLI for textile, pharma & food processing

The government has begun the process to tweak production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes for textiles, food processing and pharmaceuticals, an official said, adding a cabinet note has been finalised to attract more companies in this programme.

The move assumes significance as electronics, pharma, food processing and telecom have benefited the most from PLI schemes while other sectors are not performing that well.

"A course correction was required in a few sectors to attract more investment," the official said.


A ₹1.97 lakh crore PLI scheme was announced in 2021 for 14 sectors, including telecom, white goods, textiles, pharma, medical devices, automobiles, speciality steel, food products, high-efficiency solar PV modules, advanced chemistry cell battery and drones.

The government has disbursed ₹4,415 crore under the scheme for eight sectors, including electronics and pharma, till October. In FY24, ₹1,515 crore were disbursed till October, as against ₹2,900 crore in the whole of FY23.

As per the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), 746 applications have been approved in 14 sectors with expected investment of over ₹3 lakh crore till date. About 176 MSMEs are among the PLI beneficiaries in sectors such pharma and telecom.

Over ₹1.03 lakh crore of investment was reported till November 2023, which has led to production/sales of ₹8.61 lakh crore and employment generation (direct and indirect) of over 678,000. There are about 1,000 units under the scheme.