Business EconomyPosted at: Nov 13 2026 5:43PM

New Delhi, Nov 13 (UNI) India's production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes have generated just 28% of their targeted employment, despite mobilising nearly 76% of the investment envisaged under the flagship manufacturing programme, highlighting a gap between capital deployment and job creation, according to a NITI Aayog assessment.
The 14 PLI schemes have created 8.49 lakh jobs by the end of FY26, significantly below the target of 30 lakh.
In comparison, investments worth approximately Rs 2.4 lakh crore have been mobilised against the projected Rs 3.15 lakh crore, while production has reached Rs 22.66 lakh crore, or 64% of the overall target of Rs 35.38 lakh crore.
The findings are part of NITI Aayog's first comprehensive assessment of the PLI programme. Titled Impact Assessment of PLI Schemes, it noted that the schemes have completed 58% of their combined implementation period, with 578 months elapsed out of a total 996 months.
Introduced between 2020 and 2021, the 14 schemes have individual durations ranging from three to 10 years.
The think tank pointed out that 42% of the combined implementation period is still remaining, with different sectors and schemes progressing at varying speeds. While some have advanced considerably, others are still in the process of attracting investments and setting up manufacturing capacities.
Employment generation has also witnessed considerable fluctuations over the years.
Against their respective annual targets, the schemes achieved 86% of the employment goal up to FY23 and approximately 85% in FY24. Performance improved to 156% in FY25 before dropping sharply to 31% of the annual target in FY26.
NITI Aayog said the gap between investment mobilisation, production and employment generation needs to be assessed in the context of the time required for manufacturing projects to become operational.
Investments are typically made before factories and production facilities reach full capacity, while hiring requirements increase as operations expand and utilisation improves.
The report observed that the initial performance of the PLI programme has been encouraging but called for changes in its design to improve long-term outcomes. It said the next phase should focus on making the schemes more effective in delivering sustained industrial growth rather than merely extending the existing framework.
Sector-wise, four PLI schemes have been identified as being on track across key performance parameters, including investments, production, exports and employment. These cover large-scale electronics manufacturing, pharmaceutical drugs, telecommunications and networking products, and food products.
However, the assessment flagged areas where certain schemes have delivered weaker or partial results. These include the bulk drugs scheme's performance in boosting exports, the medical devices scheme's impact on employment generation and the Electronics/Technology Products (IT Hardware 2.0) scheme's ability to attract investments.
Despite the gaps, NITI Aayog maintained that the overall programme has delivered positive results.
Ishtiyaque Ahmed, programme director at the think tank, said the expectation was never that every scheme would perform equally well across all indicators, adding that around 70% of participants and performance indicators were on track.
The assessment suggests that while the government's manufacturing incentives have made considerable progress in attracting capital and expanding production, translating these gains into large-scale employment remains a key challenge.
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