Expenditure finance committee approves giving incentives to makers of LEDs and ACs

The expenditure finance committee has approved the proposal of the commerce and industry ministry for giving incentives to makers of ACs and LED lights under the PLI scheme. This exercise aims at boosting domestic manufacturing in the country, according to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

Last November, the Union Cabinet had approved Rs 6,238-crore outlay for these two sectors (air conditioners and LED lights) under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme which aims at making Indian manufacturers competitive globally.

Based on the recommendations of the committee, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has prepared a draft cabinet note.The scheme would extend an incentive of between 4 to 6 per cent on incremental sales over the base year 2019-20 of goods manufactured in India and covered under target segments to eligible companies, subject to fulfilment of threshold conditions of cumulative incremental investment and sales of manufactured goods, for a period of five years.

DPIIT Secretary said that all the proposals would be approved by the union cabinet and then notified. The scheme will be launched on April 1, and it will be open for applications for six months initially which could be extended if required.

The scheme was launched for 13 sectors with an outlay of Rs 1.97 lakh crore over the next five years. The other sectors include telecom, textile products, food products and advanced chemistry cell battery.