Enthused by the industry's initial response concerning the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj on Wednesday said the government is considering an extension of the scheme to 7-8 more sectors to promote domestic manufacturing.

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To make India a manufacturing hub, the government recently announced the PLI scheme for mobile phones, pharma products, and medical equipment sectors.

"I have a lot of confidence and hope on the PLI scheme that we have brought out for mobile phones, pharma products, and medical equipment, and in the offing are about 7-8 sectors where the PLI scheme would be extended," Bajaj said while addressing a virtual CII conference.

Unlike other schemes, the PLI scheme is an outcome- and output-oriented programme where manufacturers get cash incentives over 5-7 years for production, he said.

"So, the kind of response that we received on the mobile phones where we have finalized the contours gives me a lot of confidence that there is demand in the world now, to have a diversification of supply chains, and India can take advantage," he said. He said the country provides a large domestic market other than the export potential for the global manufacturers.

"So, this is a scheme that will give cash incentives for 5-7 years, and all the sunrise sectors and important sectors are proposed to be covered in these areas," Bajaj said.

He added that "so, I think that with all these efforts and as Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) said, we are seeing what all other things can we do (to boost manufacturing and economy)."

Speaking about raising infrastructure spending, Bajaj said the government is trying to persuade CMDs (chairman and managing directors) of public sector enterprises to meet their capital expenditure (capex) plan for the current financial year.

The government has been doing review meetings to push infrastructure spending at all levels, adding that the finance minister recently announced another tranche of Rs 37,000 crore going into the infrastructure spend.

"While we are in the process of making our budget for the next year, we are also looking at what has been the expenditure this year and what is the extra requirement that is required by various sectors," he said.

Bajaj added that he had mentioned it to departments to push capital expenditure for pushing such capital expenditure that has a multiplier effect. The government has also assured more funds if needed; he said, adding that the challenge now is to ensure that the departments responsible for infrastructure building spend this money.

Earlier this week, Sitharaman exhorted central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) under coal and petroleum and natural gas ministries to achieve 75 percent of their planned capex target for 2020-21 by December.

This was the fourth in the ongoing series of meetings that the finance minister has with various stakeholders to accelerate the economic growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

While reviewing the performance of CPSEs, Sitharaman had said capex by CPSEs is a critical driver of economic growth and needs to be scaled up for the financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22.