Introduction
As India grapples with leveraging its manufacturing prowess to fuel its growth story with challenges emerging on the fronts of international trade, a closing demographic window, concerns of premature deindustrialization, etc., an analysis of what has been called as her de facto Industrial Policy—Production Linked Incentives, announced in 2020—becomes imperative (Dhar, 2024). Launched to meet a host of objectives, such as reducing import dependencies and promotion of exports, anchoring of global supply chain champions and augment domestic value addition, create employment and scale productive capacities, the PLI scheme covers 14 strategic manufacturing sectors, namely (PMO, 2021; Sitharaman, 2021; PIB, 2024):
- Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing (LSEM)
- Critical Key Starting Materials (KSMs)/ Drug Intermediaries (Dis) and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)
- Manufacturing of Medical Devices
- Automobiles and Auto Components
- Pharmaceutical Drugs
- Specialty Steel
- Telecom and Networking Products
- IT Hardware
- White Goods (Air Conditioners and LEDs)
- Food Products
- Textile Products: MMF Segment & Technical Textiles
- High Efficiency Solar PV Modules
- Advanced Chemistry Cell Batteries
- Drone and its Components
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Endnotes
[1] As per the HS 2 Digit Codes which are extrapolated from the reserved commodities under the PLI scheme for textiles (Ministry of Textiles, 2021).
[2] This section has been condensed from (Ministry of Textiles, 2021).
[3] Some experts have also raised questions on whether this definition of value addition is an adequate one based on net sales. See, for example, (Raju & Sharma, 2024).
[4] The case of Tamil Nadu for which we have more exact figures allows us further precision in our argument. Two points to be noted are that one can, with reason, assume that per project 1 manufacturing unit will be established since the total applications approved for Tamil Nadu are 10 and the total manufacturing units established under PLI in the state are 11. Then, the total person engaged in these 11 units are at 5,295 currently (which might increase), which, again, supersedes the national average of per factory person engaged. (Ministry of Textiles, August 2025 (Date Accessed) ) (Ministry of Commerce and Industry; DPIIT, July, 2025).
[5] A phenomenon which may be celebrated by those who adhere to a laissez faire ideology (Goswami, Medvedev, & Olafsen, 2019).
