The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (24 February) approved Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for IT and pharma sectors.

The Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Pharmaceuticals is expected to promote the production of high value products in the country and increase the value addition in exports. Total incremental sales of Rs 2,94,000 crore and total incremental exports of Rs 1,96,000 crore are estimated during six years from 2022-23 to 2027-28.

The total quantum of incentive under the scheme is about Rs 15,000 crore.

The scheme is expected to generate employment for both skilled and unskilled personnel, estimated at 20,000 direct and 80,000 indirect jobs as a result of growth in the sector.

The cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has also approved PLI for laptops, tablets, all in one personal computer and servers. The total cost of the proposed scheme is approximately Rs 7,350 crore over four years with an employment generation potential of over 1,80,000 jobs.

Currently, the laptop and tablet demand in India is largely met through imports valued at USD 4.21 billion and USD 0.41 billion respectively in 2019-20.

The market for IT Hardware is dominated by six to seven companies globally which account for about 70 per cent of the world's market share. These companies are able to exploit large economies of scale to compete in global markets.

It is imperative that these companies expand their operations in India and make it a major destination for manufacturing of IT Hardware.

The five largest companies of the world manufacturing laptops or tablets will be brought to India and will be offered PLI, said Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology and Communications, Ravi Shankar Prasad.

The development comes just a week after the Cabinet approved the PLI scheme for telecom equipment.

With Inputs From IANS