The Centre introduced the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in April 2020 as a cornerstone of its "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" initiative. Designed to enhance domestic manufacturing and promote high-value exports, the scheme has evolved from its initial focus on mobile manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices into a comprehensive framework covering 14 key sectors. As the Economic Survey 2025-26 highlights, this intervention is now yielding measurable results, transitioning India from a technology adopter to a strategic player in global value chains (GVCs).

New benchmark in trade performance

During FY21-25, the PLI sectors have demonstrated remarkable trade dynamism. The average annual growth rate (AAGR) of exports from these sectors reached 10.6%, indicating a successful push into international markets. Interestingly, while exports surged, imports in these sectors also saw an AAGR of 12.6%, largely driven by the necessity of importing critical capital goods and components to scale up domestic production capacities. This dual growth suggests that India is actively "playing the long game," using imported technology and machinery to build a more robust export engine for the future, the survey suggests.

Sectoral superstars

The trade performance across the 14 sectors has not been uniform, with high-tech and strategic industries leading the charge. According to the survey, several sectors recorded "resilient and robust" export growth, with AAGRs exceeding 20%.

• IT hardware: Emerged as the undisputed leader with a staggering AAGR of 77.2%.

Moving toward strategic indispensability

The survey says that the success of these sectors is a vital step toward "strategic indispensability"—a state where India offers goods or roles so critical to global supply chains that they cannot be easily substituted. By focussing on high-tech manufacturing, India is effectively insulating itself from global shocks and protectionist trends.

While challenges like high capital costs and global trade uncertainty remain, the data from FY21-25 confirms a structural shift. The PLI scheme has successfully catalysed domestic value addition, particularly in electronics, where export growth of 38.8% far outpaced import growth of 17.6%. This has proven that with the right incentives and policy discipline, PLI sectors can act as the primary engines of India's transformation toward Viksit Bharat @2047.