The Indian government is working on the second phase of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the steel industry to be introduced in 2024, junior minister of steel Faggan Singh Kulaste said on Wednesday, December 27.
The junior minister said that, during the April-November period this year, Indian crude steel production has been estimated at 94 million mt, a rise of 14 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year, and the government is keen to provide a further stimulus for steel companies to continue expanding capacities.
He said that the second stage of the PLI Scheme 2.0 is currently under discussion with industry representatives, taking into consideration the experience of the first stage of the scheme already implemented.
Under the PLI Scheme, the government offers fiscal incentives to steel companies participating in the program based on the creation of incremental capacities.
An estimated $481 million is lying unused from the fund created by the government for implementing the first stage of the PLI scheme.
In the first stage, 67 steel companies entered into an agreement with the government to participate in the PLI Scheme committing fresh investments to the tune of $3.61 billion to create new steel-making capacities.
For the scheme, the government had created a fund of $761 million per year for steel companies to be paid over a period of five years to create new steelmaking capacities.