PLI for speciality steel missed most targets in its first phase: Union minister

Bengaluru: While the second phase of the production-linked incentive (PLI) for speciality steel sector was launched in January this year, the first edition of the scheme fell woefully short of its targets set for the phase 1, the Union Minister of State for Steel, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, told Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The phase-1, tenured between July 2021 and December 31, 2024, saw the industry not meeting its commitment on several fronts, including actual investment flow, production levels and job creation.

The scheme launched with an overall budget of Rs 6,322 crore, attracted investment commitments to the tune of Rs 27,106 crore. However, what actually came in was Rs 18,850 crore. Likewise, while the production target of the scheme was for a production of 7.94 million tonnes, the production achieved was merely 1.26 million tonnes. Of the 14,760 direct employment opportunities targetted by the scheme only 8,930 were created.

The scheme launched to promote domestic manufacturing of speciality steel and reducing its import, was supported by the government with a dedicated web portal and frequent webinars, to enthuse wider participation, irrespective of company size, the minister pointed out.

Then again, despite this performance, the government launched second round of the scheme earlier this year, in the hope that they could attract more participation and investment this time.

PLI scheme yielded good results: Sitharaman

Miffed at the Opposition’s criticism of Make in India, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman talked about the good results it yielded, particularly strengthening the manufacturing sector, in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. She pointed out that the PLI scheme attracted investments of Rs 1.5 lakh crore and created 9.5 lakh jobs till date. Make in India was launched on September 25, 2014.