Why in news:

• The hosiery and textile industry in Punjab’s Ludhiana is perturbed over the prevalance of countries like Bangladesh and China in the Indian market.
• The local manufacturers are worried over under billed import of cloth, machinery and finished products from other countries and want the government to take steps to control imports and give benefits to the local industries.

Key Points:

• According to President of Knitwear Club and Ludhiana Wool Manufacturers’ Association, till date there has been no update on any policy decisions which can benefit the industry and there are only tall claims made of bringing in a new industrial policy.
• He further added that imported products have gained dominance in the Indian market and that the government is not taking any steps to regulate this flow of import of under billed products.
• The industry associations have also demanded that the concerned authorities should focus on saving local businesses and regulating the import of machinery and products from other countries amounting to crores of rupees.
• In this regard, the industry representatives have pointed out that the Production Link Investment Scheme, which currently is meant for industries with investments of over Rs.100 crore, should also be introduced for smaller industries with investments of up to Rs.50 crore. He further added that the local industry should be taken into consideration before new policies are made.

Production Link Investment Scheme:

• The Production Link Investment Scheme was conceived to scale up domestic manufacturing capability, accompanied by higher import substitution and employment generation.
• The government has set aside Rs 1.97 lakh crore under the PLI schemes for various sectors and an additional allocation of Rs 19,500 crore was made towards PLI for solar PV modules in Budget 2022-23.
• Launched in March 2020, the scheme initially targeted three industries:
  • Mobile and allied Component Manufacturing
  • Electrical Component Manufacturing and
  • Medical Devices

Incentives under the scheme:

• The incentives, calculated on the basis of incremental sales, range from as low as 1% for the electronics and technology products to as high as 20% for the manufacturing of critical key starting drugs and certain drug intermediaries.
• In some sectors such as advanced chemistry cell batteries, textile products and the drone industry, the incentive to be given will be calculated on the basis of sales, performance and local value addition done over the period of five years.