Govt Mulls Delaying PLI Scheme Timeline For Mobile Phone Manufacturing To FY22 To Provide Relief To COVID-Hit Manufacturers

The central government is pondering upon making FY22 the first year of production for the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the manufacturing of mobile phones.

This is set to provide a major relief to the likes of Foxconn, Dixon, Lava, Micromax and Wistron as they would in all probabilities have fallen short of fulfilling the first year PLI targets in FY21 owing to the disruptions in the global supply chain and the curbs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This alteration in timeline will require the manufacturers to record incremental production amounting to Rs 4000 crore in this fiscal year rather than Rs 8000 crore in the second year. Moreover, no extra budgetary outgo will be necessitated on the part of the government.

“With the second wave of Covid hitting the country, there is serious thinking on the matter as companies are genuinely finding it difficult to meet their targets,” one of the officials from the government was quoted by The Economic Times.

Due to the aforementioned restrictions, Samsung is the only company amongst 16 others that has met its target of FY21 for smartphones as per the PLI scheme. However, it didn’t need to ship any machinery or plant in India unlike others and hence only steadily built up its production in its existing facilities elsewhere.