New Delhi, Apr 7 (IANS): In a move towards boosting the domestic manufacturing sector, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for white goods -- air conditioners and LED lights, with a budgetary outlay of Rs 6,238 crore.

The prime objective of the PLI scheme is to make manufacturing in India globally competitive by removing sectoral disabilities, creating economies of scale and ensuring efficiencies, said an official statement.

"It is designed to create a complete component ecosystem in India and make India an integral part of the global supply chains. The scheme is expected to attract global investments, generate large scale employment opportunities and enhance exports substantially," it said.

The PLI scheme for white goods will extend an incentive of 4-6 per cent on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India for a period of five years to companies engaged in manufacturing of air conditioners and LED lights.

Different segments have been earmarked for different types of components separately to specifically target global investments into desired areas.

Selection of companies for the scheme shall be done so as to incentivise manufacturing of components or sub-assemblies which are not manufactured in India presently with sufficient capacity, said that statement, adding that mere assembly of finished goods shall not be incentivised.

Companies meeting the pre-qualification criteria for different target segments will be eligible to participate in the scheme. Incentives shall be open to companies making brown field or green field investments.

Thresholds of cumulative incremental investment and incremental sales of manufactured goods over the base year would have to be met for claiming incentives.

An entity availing benefits under any other PLI Scheme of the Centre will not be eligible under this scheme for the same products but may take benefits under other applicable schemes of the Union Government or state governments.

As per the government, it is estimated that over the period of five years, the PLI scheme will lead to incremental investment of Rs 7,920 crore, incremental production worth Rs 1.68 lakh crore, exports worth Rs 64,400 crore, earn direct and indirect revenues of Rs 49,300 crore and create additional four lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities.