India aims to take China’s place in global supply chain through PLI scheme: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

India is eyeing to present itself as an alternative to China in the global supply chains, according to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Speaking at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, USA, Sitharaman said India was planning to take on China through the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and the growth of its domestic consumer market.

The PLI scheme has been one of the brightest working ideas to have come out of the NDA administration in India. Sitharaman pointed out that the scheme covers 13 manufacturing sectors, including semiconductors, which are bringing global value chains into India.

"By doing that, we hope to have production of many of these large, bulk-manufactured goods which can go from India to meet both international and local demand," said Sitharaman.

Smartphone exports from India

The finance minister cited the example of how mobile-phone manufacturing in India in 2014 (the year when the Narendra Modi government came to power) stood at abysmally lower levels. However, through the clever use of the PLI scheme, India has grown to become one of the world's biggest exporters of smartphones.

Notably, the data showed that India's mobile phone exports crossed $2 billion in the first two months of 2023 alone. The numbers were driven mainly by Apple and Samsung — the two smartphone giants. Cumulatively, the total smartphone export stood at over $9 billion since April last year.

India’s mobile phone exports crossed $2 billion (over Rs 16,500 crore) in the first two months of 2023, driven mainly by Apple and Samsung, taking the total export value to over $9 billion since April 2022.

Apart from smartphones, the PLI scheme has been launched for pharmaceutical, automobile,textile, food products, solar modules,telecom and networking products, advanced chemistry cell batteries, white goods, and speciality steel amongst others.

Sitharaman is currentlyon a weeklong trip to the US to attend International Monetary Fund and World Bank's spring meetings. She alongside India's central bank governor ShaktikantaDas will co-chair the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting on Wednesday and Thursday.

The earlierFMCBG meeting was held in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru in February and centred around the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Reflecting on the meeting, Sitharaman said, “Itis a great opportunity for India to prove and to work towards bringing all countries together on substantive issues.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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