28 September 2022, Mumbai:
The second production-linked incentive scheme may have relaxed criteria. This is a scheme for the labour-intensive textile and garment sector. It could allow cotton-based players to take advantage of the scheme, and drastically reduce the turnover and investment limits to enable even medium enterprises to set up units under it.
The first PLI scheme was meant only for technical textile and manmade fiber players who were willing to commit large-scale investments of at least Rs 100 crores with an annual turnover of Rs 200 crores. In the new scheme, the minimum investment will likely be as low as Rs 15 crores for companies to qualify for the incentives.
There could be two other investment brackets, Rs 30 crores, and Rs 45 crores. The annual turnovers have to be double the investment limits. However, the maximum incentive may be kept at ten percent as against 15 percent in the earlier PLI.
Even before the pandemic struck, textile and garment exports shrank eight percent in fiscal 2020. The textile and apparel/garment sector (T&C), comprising mainly medium and small units and dominated by cotton-based players, has been seeking the inclusion of cotton players, along with a reduction in high turnover and investment limits, in the PLI scheme, to benefit a wider pool of businesses.
