Nearly all incentives disbursed under the government’s Production Linked Incentive scheme for automobiles and auto components went to five vehicle manufacturers, while cumulative investment remained below the scheme’s five-year projection, according to a report by the India Energy Storage Alliance.
Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Ola Electric, Mahindra & Mahindra and TVS Motor together received ₹2,319.89 crore of the cumulative ₹2,321.94 crore disbursed as of December 31, 2025.
This means the five automakers accounted for about 99.9% of the incentives paid under the scheme. Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts was the only component supplier to receive a payout, at ₹2.05 crore, according to the India Electric Vehicle & Components Market Overview Report.
Bajaj Auto received the highest cumulative incentive of ₹625.65 crore, followed by Tata Motors at ₹545.31 crore. Ola Electric received ₹440.52 crore, Mahindra & Mahindra ₹387.90 crore and TVS Motor ₹320.51 crore.
Component Payouts Remain Limited
The sharp concentration of payouts among vehicle manufacturers comes even though the scheme covers both automakers and component suppliers.
The Auto PLI scheme has 82 approved applicants and is intended to encourage domestic production of advanced automotive technology products. These include electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles as well as components used in cleaner and more advanced powertrains.
As of December 2025, eight applicants under the Champion OEM category had received domestic value-addition certification for 94 vehicle variants. Ten Component Champion applicants had received certification for 37 component variants.
The certified component suppliers included Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts, Delphi-TVS Technologies, Sona BLW Precision Forgings, Bosch Automotive Electronics India, Dana TM4 India, Tata AutoComp, Uno Minda, Varroc Engineering, Napino Auto and Electronics, and Cummins Technologies India.
However, receiving domestic value-addition certification does not automatically mean an incentive has been paid. Claims depend on eligible sales and compliance with the scheme’s conditions.
The scheme provides incentives only for products that achieve domestic value addition of at least 50%, the ministry said.
Investment Reaches 84% of Projection
Cumulative investment under the scheme reached ₹35,657 crore by September 30, 2025, compared with the government’s five-year projection of ₹42,500 crore. The investment achieved by that date was about 84% of the projected amount, leaving a gap of ₹6,843 crore.
However, this should not be treated as a final shortfall because the scheme’s performance period runs from FY24 to FY28. Incentive payments are scheduled to continue until FY29.
The scheme recorded cumulative eligible sales of ₹32,879 crore and generated 48,974 jobs by September 2025. The government’s five-year projections are ₹2.32 lakh crore of incremental sales and about 1.48 lakh jobs.
Disbursements Rise Sharply in Second Year
FY24 was the first performance year under the scheme. The government paid ₹322 crore to four applicants in FY25 based on their performance during the previous year.
A further ₹1,999.94 crore was disbursed to five applicants in FY26 based on their FY25 performance, taking cumulative payouts to ₹2,321.94 crore by the end of December 2025.
The incentives covered more than 13.61 lakh electric vehicles. These included 10.42 lakh electric two-wheelers, 2.38 lakh electric three-wheelers, 79,540 electric four-wheelers and 1,391 electric buses.
The Auto PLI scheme has a total budgetary allocation of ₹25,938 crore. It offers incentives of 13-18% for electric vehicle and hydrogen fuel-cell products and 8-13% for other advanced automotive technology components.
The data shows that the scheme has begun supporting large-scale EV production. However, the concentration of payouts among five automakers also highlights the limited incentive flow to component manufacturers during its first two performance years.
Greater participation by component suppliers will be important if the programme is to deepen domestic manufacturing beyond final vehicle production and reduce reliance on imported electric-powertrain technologies.