Blitz Bureau
India has become a global leader in pharmaceutical and mobile-phone production in recent years.
The country produced $49 billion worth of mobiles in the 2023-24 fiscal year, up 63 per cent from 2020-21, Government data show. Industry leaders like Apple now manufacture their newest and most sophisticated cellphones in India, after having started with low-cost models.
Similarly, pharmaceutical exports nearly doubled to $27.85 billion in 2023-24 from a decade ago.
But the success was not repeated in the other sectors, which include steel, textiles and solar panel manufacturing. India faces fierce competition from cheaper rivals like China in many of those fields.
In the solar industry, for instance, eight of the 12 companies that signed up to PLI are unlikely to meet their targets, according to a December 2024 analysis of the sector prepared by the renewable energy ministry and seen by Reuters. The eight firms include units of Reliance, Adani Group and JSW.
The analysis found that the Reliance entity would only meet 50 per cent of the production target it had been set for the end of the 2027 fiscal year, when the solar PLI scheme will expire. It also said that the Adani business had not ordered equipment it needed to manufacture the solar panels and that JSW had not “done anything yet.”
JSW declined to comment, while Adani did not respond to questions.
The Commerce Ministry said in a January letter to the renewables ministry seen by Reuters that it would not agree to its counterpart’s request to extend the scheme beyond 2027 as doing so “will result in unfair benefit for non-performers.”
The renewables ministry said in response to Reuters’ questions that it was committed to “fairness and accountability,” as well as “ensuring that only those who meet their targets are rewarded.”
In the steel sector, investment and production also lag targets. Fourteen of the 58 projects approved for PLIs have been withdrawn or removed due to lack of progress, according to the undated programme-wide analysis.