PLI scheme for electronics extended by one year

Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, announced the extension of the PLI scheme for the electronics manufacturing sector by one year. Thus, the scheme will now be valid up to 2025-26. Earlier, the scheme was valid up to 2024-25. The move will provide relief to the manufacturers who had been stressed due to multiple lockdowns in the past year. The manufacturer will now have the option to choose 2021-22 as the first year under the PLI scheme. However, 2019-20 will still be considered as the base year.

Finance Minister said “Companies have been unable to meet incremental production conditions. There was a disruption in production activities due to pandemic-related lockdowns, restriction on movement of personnel, delay in installation of plant and machinery and disruption in the supply chain of components.” Commenting on the move, Rajesh Agarwal, director at Micromax, said, the extension “offers a much-needed respite to the industry that is reeling under the impact of the pandemic”. Hari Om Rai, chairman of Lava International, opines that the extension will help companies achieve all the targets under PLI including capacity building, and the creation of jobs.