Handset manufacturers have reportedly urged the government to extend the five-year production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme timeline by a year and consider the current fiscal as zero year due to Covid-led disruptions that dragged the production output behind stipulated targets.
To this end, the India Cellular & Electronic Association (ICEA) has written to the government suggesting that FY 2020-21 should be treated as a year of preparation, but no incentive should be given for any incremental production this year.
Further, ICEA is of the view that investments done so far must be cumulated with those made in FY22 to be considered for first year targets.
According to handset manufacturers, production during the year was impacted by various factors such as shortage of chipsets, the 45-day lockdown in India, short span of 6 months given to expand capacity, non-availability of technical specialists from abroad due to constraints on their business visas, etc.
As per industry estimates, , incremental investments have already exceeded Rs 13 billion in the current fiscal and massive capacities have been shifted from international locations to India.
