Bajaj Auto has been granted approval for all 13 vehicles it applied for under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, according to sources on August 22. The company has received incentives for its range of two- and three-wheelers, making it the only manufacturer to have been approved for every vehicle it sought support for.
Bajaj Auto met the domestic value addition requirements set by the PLI scheme and is now eligible for the associated benefits. Earlier this week, Ola Electric also reported receiving PLI certification for two additional vehicles—the 3 kWh and 4 kWh versions of the Ola S1X—which met the Ministry of Heavy Industries’ localization criteria of 50%.
Ola Electric CEO Bhavish Aggarwal announced that his company has become the largest recipient of the PLI scheme, securing a 20 GWh allocation. The construction of Ola’s GigaFactory is progressing in phases, with the first phase aiming for a 5 GWh capacity and trial production for 1.5 GWh already underway. Aggarwal expressed confidence that Ola would begin incorporating its own cells into EVs by early next year.
The budget for the PLI scheme for the automotive and auto components sector has been increased to ₹3,500 crore for the 2024-25 fiscal year, up from ₹484 crore in the previous year. The scheme has attracted proposed investments totaling ₹67,690 crore, with actual capital investment reaching ₹14,043 crore as of March 2024. The initiative has created 28,884 jobs of the 1.48 lakh projected.
As of now, 85 applicants have received approval under the scheme, which runs from FY23 to FY27 with a total budget of ₹25,938 crore. The scheme is divided into two parts: the Champion OEM Incentive Scheme and the Component Champion Incentive Scheme. Additionally, the government has introduced the National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, with a budget of ₹18,100 crore approved in May 2021.
