NEW DELHI: The third round of online application window for PLI scheme for white goods has attracted 38 companies as on October 12, with a net committed investment of ₹4,121 crore.
The online window for applying under the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme closed on October 12 after being open for 90 days from July 15, 2024. The PLI scheme was launched by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
43% of the new applicants are in the MSME sector which shows the confidence among small and medium enterprises to become part of the value chain of manufacturing of components of ACs and LED lights, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement on Monday.
The companies that applied under the scheme include Daikin, Voltas and Blue Star proposing investment of ₹4,121 crore under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods in the third round, of which 20 are for air conditioner (AC) components and 18 for light-emitting diode (LED) lights, the ministry said.
The value addition in the sector is expected to increase to about 80% from the current 50%, it said.
In July, the government had reopened the application window for its ₹6,238-crore PLI scheme for ACs and LED lights to accommodate more players as more firms expressed interest in the initiative.
So far, 66 applicants with committed investment of ₹6,962 crore have been selected as beneficiaries under the PLI scheme. For manufacturing components of air conditioner (AC) companies like Daikin, Voltas, Hindalco, Amber, Pg Technoplast, Epack, Mettube, LG, BlueStar, Johnson Hitachi, Panasonic, Haier, Midea, Havells, IFB, Nidec, Lucas, Swaminathan, Triton Valves, etc have invested.
In manufacturing components of LED lights, companies like Dixon, RK Lighting, Radhika Opto, Surya, Orient, Signify, Crompton Greaves, Stove Kraft, Cosmo Films, Halonix, Chenfeng, Fulham, Adsun, Inventronix, Luker, etc have invested. These investments will lead to manufacturing of components of ACs and LED lights across the complete value chain including components which are not manufactured in India presently with sufficient quantity, it said.
The applicants include 8 existing beneficiaries of the scheme (PLIWG) committing net incremental investment of ₹1,285 crore. 30 new applicants have committed investment of ₹2,836 crore proposing to manufacture varieties of critical components of ACs and LED lights across India. Investments have been proposed across India spanning in 13 states including Jammu & Kashmir and Odisha and 49 new locations.
Altogether, investments will be spread across 54 districts in 18 states, at 174 locations. Manufacturing clusters are coming up at Noida-Greater Noida in UP, Neemrana and Bhiwari in Rajasthan, Aurangabad-Pune in Maharashtra, Sanad, Gujarat and Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. Six AC manufacturers and 12 component manufacturers are in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, also nicknamed as the Cooling City. The scheme has a healthy mix of multinational and domestic companies. Five additional foreign companies are investing ₹245 crore apart form 15 existing companies investing ₹2,287 crore, the ministry said.
Altogether, the scheme is expected to bring in investment in the component manufacturing ecosystem of ACs and LED lights industry to the tune of ₹11,083 crore and generate more than 80,400 direct employment. The scheme is expected to lead to total production of components of ACs and LEDs in India of about ₹1,81,975 crore, it added.
