“This decision has been made after receiving the approval of the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS),” the ministry said in a release.
As part of the amendments to the scheme, the incentive will be applicable for a total of five consecutive financial years, which commence from the FY24.
“The disbursement of the incentive will take place in the following financial year 2024-25. The scheme also specifies that an approved applicant will be eligible for benefits for five consecutive financial years, but not beyond the financial year ending on March 31, 2028,” the government explained.
In other words, the extension of the five-year scheme, originally in place from 2022-23 to 2026-27, will be active until 2027-28.
Moreover, the government has also said that if an approved company fails to meet the threshold for an increase in Determined Sales Value over the first year’s threshold, it will not receive any incentive for that year. “However, it will still be eligible for benefits in the next year if it meets the threshold calculated on the basis of a 10 per cent YoY growth over the first year’s threshold,” it said.As per the government, this provision ensures a level playing field for all approved companies and safeguards those who preferred to front-load their investments.
The table showing the incentive outlay has also been modified as part of the amendment; the indicative incentive totals Rs. 25,938 crore.
The PLI-Auto Scheme offers financial incentives to encourage investments in the automotive manufacturing value chain and to increase domestic production of Advanced Automotive Technology (AAT) products.
The two components of the programme are Component Champions, which produces high-end, high-tech components, and Champion OEM, which produces electric or hydrogen-powered vehicles.
The heavy industries ministry announced on November 9, 2021, the 19 AAT vehicle categories and 103 AAT component categories fall under the scope of the scheme.
These parts are either cutting-edge or high-tech automotive parts, or they are those for which India lacks an Indian supply chain. According to the statement, India will be able to grow its proportion of the global supply chains for advanced technology and automobiles thanks to this scheme.