To increase private investment and generate employment, the government is soon going to include furniture in the PLI scheme. The information has been issued by the government officials in an informal communication. It is believed that furniture after joining the PLI scheme, the consumption of plywood, MDF and particle board will increase significantly. The plan to bring toys and cycles under this scheme may also be considered with furniture, which is likely to happen in several phases.
It is to be noted that the furniture sector is a labor intensive sector under MSME. With its inclusion in PLI, numerous furniture clusters will develop across the country, due to which the consumption of calibrated plywood, MDF and particle board will also increase. The Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association has also been demanding a PLI scheme for a long time to enable domestic manufacturers to overcome shortterm cost inefficiencies. Started in the year 2020, many products have been included under this project, in which mobile manufacturing is in progress and special steel, automobile and auto components are slowly gaining momentum under this scheme.
According to an estimate, most of the PLI investments, manufacturing and incentives are likely to happen in FY 2025, 26 and 27. Out of Rs 1.97 lakh crore incentives for all PLIs, utilization by 2030 will be less than Rs 1.5 lakh crore. According to rating agency CRISIL, the PLI scheme is being used to reduce import dependence and add to the existing range while promoting exports.
This can generate capital expenditure of Rs 2.5-3 trillion by companies. However, it is also being said that since the launch of the scheme, the process of claiming for that incentive payment has been quite complicated. Therefore, it remains to be seen how successful this scheme will be after its implementation, which is still a future course of action.