Goyal expressed happiness with demand from the AC and LED sector to open them for Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and said that the industry should now aim at becoming global champions
The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) in white goods is a win-win for India, Industry and the people, said Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday while speaking at the high-level DPIIT-FICCI investor roundtable. He said that the PLI scheme is being used to only encourage the industry to take the first few steps to compete in the global market and give it the initial push to bring scale to your business.
Citing the example of how the LED revolution was brought about by removing the subsidy, Goyal said, “In the long run, no country has succeeded in becoming a prosperous nation on the back of government support. In the LED programme in 2015, my first decision on file was to remove the subsidy on the bulb given by EESL.” He said that because the budget was only 9 crores so everybody kept waiting for the subsidy and we could not go beyond six-hundred thousand bulbs in a year. After removal of the subsidy, we could encourage industry to start expanding the sale of the LED bulbs,” the minister said.
Goyal expressed happiness with demand from the AC and LED sector to open them for Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and said that the industry should now aim at becoming global champions. “You want to become global champions. You want to compete with the rest of the world on an equal footing from a position of strength. India is not a weak country. We are not looking for sops. We are not scared of any competition. That’s the message this room should give out to the rest of the world,” Goyal said. The union cabinet had given approval to the PLI scheme for white goods (air conditioners and LED lights) to be implemented over FY 2021-22 to FY 2028-29 with an outlay of Rs 6,238 crore on 07 April 2021.