PLI schemes were introduced by the government to reduce India’s import dependence, attract investments and provide a filip to the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative
Funding for the various production linked incentive schemes (PLI) has more than doubled in the recent Union Budget 2025-26 underscoring the importance for the manufacturing sector and the government’s push for making India self-reliant and a major global manufacturing hub.
The outlay for PLI schemes increased by over 108% in FY26 (Budget estimates BE) to Rs 19,482.58 crore from Rs 9,360.36 crore in FY25 (Revised estimates RE). The largest increase in allocations was seen in the PLI schemes for textiles, battery cell and storage technology, and in automobiles. Budgetary support for PLI for textiles increased by 25 times to Rs 1148 crore in FY26 (BE) from Rs 45 crore in FY25 (RE). In FY24 actual expenditure for textiles was just Rs 4 crores.
Similarly, allocations for PLI in battery cells and storage systems manufacturing rose from Rs 15.4 crore to Rs 156 crore in FY26 and for manufacturing of automobiles increased from Rs 346.87 crore to Rs 2819 crores in the same period. In her speech at the Parliament, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the setting up of a National Manufacturing Mission to further the Make in India initiative. A major plank of this mission would be to “improve domestic value addition and build our ecosystem for solar PV cells, EV batteries, motors and controllers, electrolyzers, wind turbines, very high voltage transmission equipment and grid scale batteries”.
For the PLI scheme in speciality steel, outlay increased 6 times from Rs 55 crore in FY25 (RE) to Rs 305 crore in FY26 (BE). For pharmaceuticals, funding increased by 14% from Rs 2150.5 crore to Rs 2444.9 crore in the same period.
For the PLI in electronics manufacturing and IT hardware, the largest scheme by size of allocation, the budget allocated Rs 9000 crore in FY26 (BE) against Rs 5777 crore in FY25 (RE) an increase of 56%.
Despite specific focus on schemes promoting the manufacture of toys and footwear in the Budget speech, PLI schemes in the two sectors did not receive any budgetary allocation in the Union Budget 2025-26.
Table 1: The table shows the actual expenditure and budget allocation for various PLI schemes over the years.
PLI schemes were introduced by the government for 14 sectors in 2021 with an initial outlay of Rs. 1.97 lakh crore to boost production, fuel economic growth and drive employment generation. The intent behind the scheme was to reduce India’s import dependence, attract investments and provide a filip to the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative.
Published – February 01, 2025 05:32 pm IST