India’s PLI Drive Powers $65 Billion Auto & Battery Revolution

India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes are reshaping the country’s industrial landscape, targeting advanced automotive technologies and domestic battery manufacturing to strengthen self-reliance and global competitiveness.

It was on September 2021 when Government of India approved the PLI Scheme for Automobile and Auto Component Industry in India (PLI-Auto) with a budgetary outlay of Rs.25,938 crore for enhancing India’s manufacturing capabilities for Advanced Automotive Products. 

PLI Auto is a pan-India Scheme and approved applicants are free to set up units anywhere in the country.

PLI cheme on “National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage”, approved in May 2021, with an outlay of ₹18,100 Crore for 50 GWh capacity. However, till date, no beneficiary firm has claimed any incentive under the PLI ACC scheme. As reported by the beneficiary firms, the scheme has attracted an investment of ₹5,180 crore and direct employment of 1,277 till May 2026.

India’s PLI Schemes for Automobiles, Auto Components & Battery Storage

Background & Objectives

• PLI for Automobiles & Auto Components
  Announced in September 2021 with a budget of ₹25,938 crore (~$26.9 billion).
  Focuses on Advanced Automotive Technology (AAT) products — electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and high-tech components.
  Goal: Position India as a global hub for EVs and advanced auto manufacturing.
  
• PLI for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage
  Launched in May 2021 with a budget of ₹18,100 crore (~$18.8 billion).
  Target: Establish 50 GWh domestic manufacturing capacity for advanced batteries.
  Goal: Reduce import dependence and support India’s EV ecosystem.
  

Progress in Automobiles & Auto Components

• Investments attracted: ₹44,326 crore (~$45.9 billion)
• Jobs created: 67,820
• Incentives disbursed: ₹2,386.36 crore (~$2.47 billion)
• Incremental sales: ₹52,414 crore (~$54.3 billion) over FY20 baseline

State-wise Distribution of Units

State	Units
Maharashtra	66
Tamil Nadu	38
Haryana	35
Karnataka	28
Uttar Pradesh	13
Others (Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, MP, Telangana, AP, Jharkhand, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Punjab)	45

Progress in Battery Storage

• Investment attracted: ₹5,180 crore (~$5.37 billion)
• Jobs created: 1,277
• Incentives claimed: None yet (capacity not fully commissioned)

Awarded Projects (40 GWh capacity)

• ACC Energy Storage Pvt. Ltd. – 5 GWh (Karnataka)
• Ola Cell Technologies Pvt. Ltd. – 20 GWh (Tamil Nadu)
• Reliance New Energy Battery Storage Ltd. – 5 GWh (Gujarat)
• Reliance New Energy Battery Ltd. – 10 GWh (Gujarat)

Challenges

• Automobile PLI: Companies must meet 50% Domestic Value Addition (DVA) to qualify for incentives, requiring deep localisation.
• Battery PLI: Commissioning delays — only Ola has installed 1 GWh capacity so far.
• Global competition: India must accelerate to compete with China, South Korea, and Europe in EV batteries.

Conclusion

The PLI-Auto scheme has already delivered strong results, driving investments and job creation across India’s auto hubs. Meanwhile, the PLI-ACC battery scheme is progressing slower, but remains critical for India’s EV future. Together, these schemes are central to India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat vision, reducing import dependence and building global competitiveness.

Breakdown of India’s $65 Billion PLI Schemes

India’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for automobiles, auto components, and advanced battery storage represent a combined scale of over $65 billion, based on official government data and credible reporting.

Breakdown of Figures

Scheme / Metric	INR (₹ crore)	USD (approx.)
PLI-Auto Scheme Budget	25,938	$26.9 billion
PLI-ACC Battery Scheme Budget	18,100	$18.8 billion
Investments attracted under Auto PLI	44,326	$45.9 billion
Investments attracted under Battery PLI	5,180	$5.37 billion
Incentives disbursed (Auto PLI)

Grahaa Space’s SOLARAS Completes Mission SIDDHI, Validates India’s Indigenous Stackable Nanosatellite Platform in Orbit

Grahaa Space, a spacetech startup building Earth observation nanosatellites and geospatial intelligence solutions, today announced the successful completion of Mission SIDDHI, with its technology demonstration nanosatellite SOLARAS achieving all planned objectives in low earth orbit (LEO).

SOLARAS successfully transmitted telemetry signals confirming healthy spacecraft operation, and it has been well received and verified by the SSPACE - Tarang ground station at IIST - Trivandrum. Multiple amateur ground stations worldwide also received the signals across successive passes, reaffirming the satellite's in-orbit performance.

The mission validated Grahaa Space's indigenous, stackable nanosatellite bus and platform, along with its onboard systems and subsystems, under real space conditions. SOLARAS also successfully transmitted payload data—an important milestone in the company's effort to build reliable, scalable nanosatellite technologies.

Grahaa Space Team 

Ramesh Kumar V, Co-founder & CEO, Grahaa Space, said, "Mission SIDDHI is a proud milestone for our team. We set out to prove that an indigenously designed nanosatellite platform could perform successfully in orbit, and SOLARAS has done exactly that. Our hearty gratitude to the entire Skyroot Aerospace team for deploying SOLARAS into its intended orbit during its maiden mission, STIIC at IIST for their support throughout development, qualification and post launch signal verification, IN-SPACe and ISRO for their continued handholding, guidance and support. We also thank the global amateur radio community for helping validate our telemetry. This is not just the completion of one mission—it's the foundation for many more, as we are building Earth observation nanosatellite technologies from India for the world."

Mission SIDDHI marks a key step toward Grahaa Space's vision of cost-efficient, scalable nanosatellite platforms delivering near-real-time geospatial video data from LEO. The in-orbit validation of its spacecraft systems strengthens the foundation for the company's upcoming Earth observation programmes and future commercial missions.

With Mission SIDDHI complete, Grahaa Space continues to advance indigenous satellite technologies, enabling faster, flexible, application-led space missions for government, enterprise, research, and academic stakeholders.

MilikiRumah co-founder and CEO Winston Lee names PropertyGuru Group founder-minus-one Faizal Abdullah as newly-minted chief commercial officer

MilikiRumah (“the Company”), a Singapore-headquartered and Indonesia-based social inclusivity PropTech company for good and owner-operator of two world-firsts – an AI-powered rent-to-own programme and a trailblazing AI-centric SaaS consumer eligibility intelligence platform to effectively qualify consumers to become would-be homebuyers in just under 5 seconds – is pleased to announce leadership renewal with the appointment of former PropertyGuru Group founder-minus-one Faizal Abdullah as chief commercial officer.

“Barely a month into his newly-minted role since joining the Company on 4 May 2026, Faizal is already outperforming expectations by effectively driving a record-breaking 50 per cent month-on-month increase in revenue,” states Winston Lee (“Winston”), co-founder and chief executive officer of MilikiRumah. “We've proven the model works — now we're scaling it. Our focus for this next phase is disciplined expansion: Strengthening our commercial leadership, deepening developer and bank partnerships, and continuing to build the technology infrastructure that makes us the go-to platform for housing finance in Indonesia," opines Winston.

The appointment of Faizal marks a significant milestone in MilikiRumah's trajectory as a fast-growth PropTech organisation; reinforcing the Company's unwavering commitment to operational excellence, revenue growth and strategic commercial expansion across Indonesia. Faizal's depth of experience in revenue generation and business scaling makes him an outstanding addition to MilikiRumah. His leadership will be instrumental as the Company continues to grow its footprint and deliver greater value to business-to-business-to-consumer (“B2B2C”) clients. Underpinned by a robust cap table, MilikiRumah remains steadfastly committed to its partners and stakeholders as the Company continues on its mission of democratising homeownership accessibility to all Indonesians.

"Faizal and I are alumni of PropertyGuru Group and I had the pleasure of working with him for more than 10 years. We kicked off our executive roles in PropertyGuru Group at about the same time with both of us holding the positions of founder-minus-one. Faizal reported to PropertyGuru Group co-founder and chief executive officer Steve Melhuish whilst I reported to co-founder and managing director Jani Rautianen – who is an angel investor of MilikiRumah,” according to Winston. “During Faizal’s stint at PropertyGuru Group as director of sales support and enablement in Singapore, he helped grow overall revenue by 35 per cent year-on-year. When Faizal dual-hatted as acting country manager of PropertyGuru Group’s marketplace business in Indonesia, he attained market leader status for Rumah.com in a highly competitive and saturated market,” says Winston.

With a housing backlog of 15 million units, Indonesia represents one of the largest underserved housing markets in the world. Millions of households remain excluded from traditional mortgage systems; and MilikiRumah views this nationwide issue as evidence of strong structural demand — creating a significant financing gap.

Winston shares his perspective on how MilikiRumah is empowering homeownership for the underserved by harnessing its best-in-class technology solutions: “MilikiRumah’s first-of-a-kind revolutionary, proprietary technology and data opportunity moat encompasses an artificial intelligence-assisted eligibility and underwriting intelligence and first-party ownership-readiness and affordability data. With every completed transaction, MilikiRumah improves it’s intelligence, credit-scoring and decisioning engine. With a clear path to category leadership, MilikiRumah is positioned to become the infrastructure layer for housing finance; as well as set for expansion into embedded finance verticals adjacent to housing finance,” adds Winston.

MilikiRumah confirms that effective 7 April 2026, former co-founder and President Director Marine Novita is no longer with the Company.

A FORMIDABLE TRACK RECORD SHORED BY AN IMPRESSIVE PORTFOLIO SLATE

Faizal brings to the table, deep expertise in the multinational corporate space in more than 26 years of progressive leadership experience spanning some of Southeast Asia's most respected institutions. Faizal has more than demonstrated proven leadership experience – having built, scaled and successfully exited high-growth ventures spanning a diverse range of industries and geographies including PropTech, commercial real estate development and entrepreneurship.

Faizal was with PropertyGuru Group, from 2015 to 2018, as director of sales support and enablement in Singapore where he grew overall revenue by 35 per cent year-on-year. Faizal was then elevated to acting country manager of Rumah.com and Rumahdijual.com – PropertyGuru Group’s marketplace businesses in Indonesia. Reporting directly to the chief executive officer and chief business officer, Faizal was tasked with enabling the successful delivery of commitments made by the sales team; along with maximizing revenue growth through pricing and yield levers. Under Faizal’s cross-border leadership across Singapore and Indonesia, PropertyGuru Group attained market leader status across the 4 markets it operated out of – including Malaysia and Thailand.

At Rumah123 – a 99 Group business unit in Indonesia, Faizal was senior vice president from 2023 to 2025; helming the company's largest business unit. Faizal was responsible for revenue growth, go-to-market performance, operational efficiency and cross-functional strategy execution. As a senior commercial and transformation leader, Faizal delivered 65 per cent year-on-year revenue growth and expanded customer base by 40 per cent.

As the former co-founder and chief executive officer of KOCO Indonesia for over three years from 2020 to 2023, Faizal built and scaled the cross-border EdTech company from inception to near break-even. Faizal led fundraising, market entry, go-to-market architecture and multi-country operations. Faizal raised USD 1.5 million in seed funding – securing institutional investment from a global EdTech accelerator; and scaling operations across Singapore and Indonesia with cross-functional teams spanning sales, operations, product and partnerships.

From 2018 to 2020, Faizal served as executive director and chief revenue officer at PT. Alam Makmur Property – a Ruby Group company and notable regional real estate developer (“developer”, “developers”) with a portfolio asset worth SGD 2.5 billion. Based in Jakarta, Indonesia, Faizal led the launch of three property developments across Indonesia with a total value of USD 600 million to which, he successfully sold 70 per cent of the residential units in 18 months.

Faizal’s regional leadership experience extends further to Motorola Solutions where he was head of sales enablement across Asia Pacific and the Middle East; and to Hewlett-Packard where he served as senior manager of sales operations for Asia Pacific and Japan – having led the company's lead-to-order transformation and support function. Earlier in his career, Faizal was regional sales manager for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong at Getty Images.

DRIVING COMMERCIAL EXCELLENCE FOR MILIKIRUMAH

As the inaugural chief commercial officer of MilikiRumah, Faizal leads business strategy, profitability, customer performance and execution across multiple functions. Faizal drives strategic initiatives to expand MilikiRumah's market share, strengthen organisational capabilities and enhance long-term competitiveness – all with razor-sharp focus on regional partnerships, go-to-market optimisation, and the Company's expansion into key growth markets across Indonesia.

Widely recognised for his strengths in strategic leadership, business transformation, revenue acceleration and talent development, Faizal's appointment positions MilikiRumah to further capitalise on growing consumer demand and evolving market opportunities across the region.

Faizal chimes in on his recent appointment as chief commercial officer: "I am very pleased to join MilikiRumah at such an exciting stage of its growth journey. Indonesia presents tremendous opportunities for MilikiRumah to empower the underbanked to become bankable homeowners. My focus has always been on translating strategy into real, measurable execution. At MilikiRumah, I am already fostering a far more agile and high-performing commercial and marketing team that delivers sustainable growth while placing our underbanked consumers and valued developer and bank partners at the centre of everything we do," comments Faizal.

MedTech Startup Bioscan Research Raises $1 Mn in Seed Round Led by Unicorn India Ventures

• Bioscan Research is an innovation-driven medical device company pioneering non-invasive diagnostic solutions for early disease detection.
• Funds raised will be strategically deployed for market expansion, additional regulatory approvals, product upgradation and new IP creation. 
• In the last 12 months the company has witnessed 5x growth. 
• The company’s goal is to grow 3x in the next 12 months and plans to expand in India and overseas market. 
• Bioscan Research aims to improve traumatic brain injury patient outcomes via an objective assessment for early detection at a pre-symptomatic phase with the help of machine learning powered NIRS device - CEREBO.

MedTech startup Bioscan Research which is leveraging deeptech in optics, electronics, mechanics and software to develop, test, manufacture and commercialize affordable medical devices for early detection of brain injuries non-invasively, has raised $1 million in a seed round led by Unicorn India Ventures. The funds raised will be strategically deployed for market expansion, additional regulatory approvals, product upgradation and new IP creation.

Incorporated in 2017, by Anupam Lavania and Shilpa Malik, Bioscan Research aims to improve traumatic brain injury patient outcomes via an objective assessment for early detection at a pre-symptomatic phase with the help of machine learning powered NIRS device - CEREBO. The flagship product CEREBO, is an advanced intra-cranial injury detector designed to assist in managing trauma patients, even in the absence of visible symptoms, ensuring timely intervention within the golden period.

Commenting on the fund raise, Co-founders, Bioscan Research says, “We harness light to reveal what the eyes can’t see — giving doctors clarity, patients hope, and technology a heart. More than 50 million suffer from traumatic brain injury each year and 50-90% of patients with mild traumatic brain injury go unidentified. With this current round, we will be able to upgrade our product and bridge the limitations of traditional tools and provide urgent care in India and internationally.”

In the last 12 months the company has witnessed 5x growth and is redefining how critical conditions are identified—enabling faster clinical decisions, improved outcomes, and more accessible care worldwide

Anil Joshi, Managing Partner, Unicorn India Ventures says, “We have been investing in highly innovative medtech companies quite consistently as we believe the healthcare industry still has a big gap to address in countries like India. We believe the market is huge and the research is evident on how people are suffering from head injuries and brain trauma every year. It is time to bring the correct technology that will diagnose early symptoms and understand what the patient is suffering from. Bioscan Research is making it possible to detect intra-cranial haemorrhage non-invasively. The company has witnessed progress in the last 12 months and has upgraded its technology solutions. Hence, we believe the market opportunity is huge and the company has built the right momentum to capitalise on this segment.”

Over the next 12 months the company’s goal is to grow 3x and plans to expand in India and overseas markets.

About Bioscan Research

Bioscan Research is an innovation-driven, ISO 13485:2016–certified medical device company pioneering non-invasive diagnostic solutions for early disease detection. By integrating photonics, precision engineering, and machine learning–driven analytics, Bioscan Research is redefining how critical conditions are identified—enabling faster clinical decisions, improved outcomes, and more accessible care worldwide. Its flagship product, Cerebo, is an advanced intracranial injury detector designed to assist in managing trauma patients, even in the absence of visible symptoms, ensuring timely intervention within the golden period.

About Unicorn India Ventures

Started in 2016 by Bhaskar Majumdar and Anil Joshi, Unicorn India Ventures is a deep tech focused early-stage fund that invests in emerging and visionary startups. Unicorn India Ventures launched its first fund with a corpus of Rs 100 crore and invested in 17 companies like SmartCoin, Open Bank, Sequretek, Pharmarack, Genrobotics, Clootrack, FutureCure to mention some. The Fund has emerged as the best performing early-stage fund in India with the stellar exits provided by the fund to its LPs. Fund II is a Rs 300 Cr fund launched in 2020 that has invested in 20 companies so far like Gamerji, Probus, Daalchini, Windo, Finsall. Most of the portfolio is scaling up fast and has had several uprounds.

Unicorn India Ventures has closed its Rs 1200 Cr Fund III surpassing the target of Rs 1000 Crore. With this Fund, UIV aims to build a portfolio of 20 startups that are focused mostly in the deep tech sector that includes semiconductor, space tech, and medical diagnostics apart from AI infrastructure and India digital platforms. Companies like Netrasemi, Kluisz, OrbitAID, TakeMe2Space, Aurassure, EyeROV, QubeHealth to name a few.

Recently, IIT-Madras and Unicorn India Ventures launched Rs 1000 crore “IITM Unicorn Frontier Fund I”. UIV is a fund with engineering DNA and has been backing deeptech companies for over a decade. The Fund has investors across the globe represented by institutions, family offices and UHNIs. The Fund has a global viewpoint while sourcing companies throughout the country.

Hcltech Report Exposes Widening AI Divide With Only 18% of Enterprises Seeing Revenue Impact Despite Near-Universal Adoption

HCLTech, a leading global technology company, today released its global research report, The Blueprint for AI Leadership, revealing a widening gap between organizations adopting AI and those realizing meaningful business value.

The study, conducted with Raconteur among 500 enterprise decision-makers, shows that AI adoption is no longer the constraint. 90% of organizations report that GenAI and Agentic AI are transforming workflows, with 91% citing improved data access and 90% reporting productivity gains.

However, alarmingly, only 18% say AI is delivering significant revenue impact, exposing a critical gap between operational progress and business outcomes. These enterprises have emerged as AI Leaders by not just adopting AI, but by systematically converting it into growth, innovation and customer experience advantage. These enterprises are four times more likely to scale agentic and autonomous AI, with superior execution in defining measurable use cases (73% vs. 22%) and securing senior leadership sponsorship (63% vs. 36%).

The lagging enterprises that act as AI Followers remain trapped in incremental gains, evaluating AI through efficiency and cost lenses alone, limiting their ability to compete on differentiated outcomes or scale impact enterprise wide.

The divergence is sharpest in foundations. AI Leaders have integrated AI into business strategy, built data readiness and are far ahead in workforce transformation, with 93% having structured upskilling programs, compared to just 20% of AI Followers.

Critically, Leaders are embedding AI into core workflows and decision-making, enabling scaling, adaptability and continuous improvement, capabilities AI Followers are yet to institutionalize. This shift from deploying tools to orchestrating enterprise-wide transformation is the defining advantage in AI maturity.

“AI has entered a decisive phase, and success will come down to how well organizations bring people, data and technology together,” said Pawan Vadapalli, Corporate Vice President and Global Head, Digital Business Services at HCLTech. “The organizations pulling ahead are not just running more pilots; they are rethinking how the business works, embedding AI into everyday decisions and workflows. It is this coordinated shift across leadership, culture and foundations that turns AI from a tool into real, long-term advantage.”

To access the full report, please visit: The Blueprint for AI Leadership: AI ROI Report | HCLTech