As of December 2023, selected companies have
already made an investment worth ₹12,900 crore against an investment commitment
of ₹21,000 crore in the current fiscal year.
The government is expecting an
investment worth ₹10,000 crore under the production-linked incentive (PLI)
scheme for speciality steel for FY25, the ministry of steel has said.
"In view of the significant
growth of the economy, especially infrastructure, the demand for speciality
steel would continue to show strong acceleration and PLI MoU holders would make
up for the shortfall in investment," says the ministry. Speciality steel
is made after processing normal steel and has wide usage in automobile,
defence, space, medical devices and power sector.
The PLI scheme for speciality steel,
which was notified in July 2021, is applicable for five years from FY2022-23 to
FY27-28. Under the scheme, 57 MoUs have been executed to generate an
investment worth ₹29,500 crore, additional capacity of 25 MT (million tonnes)
for producing specialty steel grades and an additional employment of about
17,000 people by FY28.
The ministry says that as of December
2023, selected companies have already made an investment worth ₹12,900 crore
against an investment commitment of ₹21,000 crore in the current fiscal year.
The government expects another ₹3,000 crore to be invested by these companies
in the fourth quarter of FY24, thus making the total investment to be
approximately ₹16,000 in the current fiscal year.
"It is also pertinent to mention
that 5 units have begun production, and 9 more units are expected to
begin production in this quarter," says the ministry.
It adds delays due to unavoidable
circumstances in the projects include supply chain delays owing to
geopolitical issues, unforeseen events, natural disasters and changed
market circumstances for certain PLI products have impacted the pace,
phasing and the quantum of investment.
"Measures have been taken to
expedite clearances for projects, issue standard operating procedures for
Indian visa for experts, and to address the concerns of the participating
companies by continuous engagement with the stakeholders," says the
ministry. Its statement comes after several reports pointed to a slowdown
in the investment of specialty scheme.
Notably, the interim budget has
provided ₹270 crore for payment of incentives for FY25.
To boost the domestic manufacturing,
the government introduced PLI scheme for 14 sectors including automobiles,
electronic components, medical devices, pharmaceutical drugs, advanced
chemistry cell (ACC) battery, and high solar PV modules, among others with an
outlay of ₹1.97 lakh crore.