The Centre on Wednesday offered an improved production-linked incentive scheme in IT hardware worth Rs 17,000 crore, with the previous scheme failing to get a suitable response from the industry.

Not only the Centre has increased the duration of the scheme to six years from four in the earlier scheme launched in 2021 but also the incentives are more attractive.

IT minister Ashwani Vaishnaw said the scheme is expected to create direct employment for 75,000 and indirect employment for more than 2 lakh.

He said companies with high volume sales are interested, and iPad maker Apple is also seriously evaluating the scheme, reports PTI.

The PLI scheme 2.0 for IT hardware covers laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, servers and ultra-small form factor devices. The scheme was earlier introduced in 2021 but did not get the expected response as the companies were demanding a greater outlay.

Under the new PLI scheme, companies will get an incentive of up to 5 per cent and an optional incentive of 4 per cent if they use domestically-produced components compared with just a 2 per cent incentive offered under the old PLI scheme.

Fertiliser subsidy

The cabinet on Wednesday approved a fertiliser subsidy of Rs 1.08 lakh crore for the kharif season that was announced in the budget.

The fertiliser subsidy for the whole of this fiscal is Rs 2.25 lakh crore.

The cabinet approved a subsidy of Rs 38,000 crore for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers and the full Rs 70,000 crore earmarked in the budget for urea.