The Data Behind Modi's PLI Reforms

Which sectors actually got most of the PLI money?

Electronics and pharmaceuticals dominate. Electronics production jumped 146%, from ₹2.13 lakh crore to ₹5.25 lakh crore, and mobile imports fell 77% as India now makes almost all phones it sells. Pharma flipped from a ₹1,930 crore import deficit to a ₹2,280 crore export surplus, with sales crossing ₹2.66 lakh crore. Other sectors, like textiles and white goods, show far smaller money moving.

How small is the gap for textiles and white goods?

Textiles got a ₹10,683 crore scheme outlay, but man-made fibre exports only rose to about ₹525 crore and technical textile exports to ₹294 crore in FY 2024-25. White goods, with a ₹6,238 crore outlay, has disbursed just ₹281.4 crore in incentives so far, a fraction of what electronics and pharma have converted into sales.

Why did electronics and pharma pull ahead of the rest?

Both had existing global demand and supply chains to plug into: electronics rode a policy push (the National Policy on Electronics 2019) that drew in global phone makers, while pharma built on India's existing bulk-drug capacity. Newer bets like semiconductors are still early, with just ten approved projects and ₹4,600 crore committed under a separate mission.

What would show PLI is working beyond its two star sectors?

Watch whether disbursed incentives, not just committed investment or scheme outlay, start catching up in textiles and white goods, where investment commitments run into thousands of crores but actual payouts remain under a few hundred crore. Until disbursement and export growth in those sectors approach electronics and pharma's pace, the scheme's success stays concentrated in two of fourteen sectors.

Is border road building actually speeding up, or steady?

It has picked up. The Border Roads Organisation built about 4,595 km of forward-area roads over five years (2020-21 to 2024-25) on roughly ₹23,625 crore of funding, and completed 769 km in 2024-25 alone, the biggest single-year chunk of that five-year total, alongside new tunnels and faster winter pass reopenings.

How much faster are Himalayan passes reopening after winter?

BRO reopened the Zoji La pass in Ladakh on 16 March 2023, just 68 days after it closed, called the fastest ever at the time. By 1 April 2025, it reopened the same pass after only 32 days, roughly half that earlier record, showing steady gains in clearing snow-blocked routes for troops and civilians.

How does road speed compare with bridge and disaster response work?

Beyond roads, BRO also rebuilds crossings fast: after the 2021 Rishiganga floods swept away a bridge in Reini, it restored access in 26 days with a 200-foot Bailey bridge. Projects like Vijayak in Ladakh and Swastik in Sikkim have each built over 1,000 km of roads plus dozens of major bridges, showing the pace extends across roads, bridges and disaster repair together.

Is spacetech funding broad-based or a few big deals?

It's a few big deals, not broad participation. Tracxn's data shows the top 10 funded companies out of 285 startups grabbed over 60% of the sector's $871 million raised so far. Only 10 companies have ever raised more than $15 million each, and just five mega-rounds accounted for over half of all money deployed in 2025-26.

How many spacetech startups actually got funded at all?

Of the 285 Indian space tech companies Tracxn tracks, only 72 have raised any equity funding at all, meaning the remaining 213, the large majority, remain entirely unfunded. That's despite the sector's total pool crossing $871 million, showing how narrow the actual base of investible companies is even before counting concentration among the winners.

Is the money spreading beyond Bengaluru's space cluster?

Not much yet. Bengaluru alone has pulled in $495 million across 106 rounds, 57% of the entire sector's funding, and hosts seven of the top 10 funded companies. Hyderabad trails with $205 million and Chennai with $80 million, meaning three cities account for nearly all serious spacetech capital in the country.

What could break this pattern of a few winners taking most of the money?

Tracxn expects the next 12 to 18 months to look like fintech's 2023-24 shakeout, with mergers, pivots and shutdowns among companies that can't land follow-on funding. Watch whether late-stage funding, just $17 million in 2025 but $53 million already in 2026, keeps growing. That would signal more companies reaching commercial maturity rather than just a handful repeatedly raising big rounds.