Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is set to receive an investment of about Rs 3,345-crore from 31 domestic and multinational companies for a period of four years under the ambitious production-linked incentive or PLI scheme which is expected to additionally employ as many as 40,000 individuals in the telecom sector.
Following the incentive package unveiled early this year, proposals from as many as 31 companies that included 16 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and 7 multinationals and 8 domestic players have been approved by the telecom department (DoT).
The multinationals included Nokia Solutions and Networks, Foxconn Technology, Flextronics Technologies, Commscope and Jabil Circuit. In addition, HFCL, Tejas Networks, VVDN Technologies, Dixon Electro Appliances, and state-run ITI were among homegrown companies declared eligible under the scheme.
The scheme is expected to facilitate the production of nearly 1.82 lakh crore, and investment of about Rs 3,345-crore which is envisaged in the sector for over four years, creating additional employment of more than 40,000 people, the telecom department (DoT) in a note said.
In April 2021, the Centre has launched a prestigious program with an outlay of Rs 12,195-crore to promote networking equipment by incentivising incremental investments by domestic and foreign companies.
The scheme, according to the note, would boost research and development (R&D) activities locally with companies committed to spend 15% of their revenues for the development of new products.
The support under the scheme would be provided for a five-year term, from the financial year 2021-22 to 2025-26.
The scheme for the telecom sector includes manufacturing of transmission equipment, next-generation (4G and 5G) radio access network and wireless equipment, customer premise equipment (CPE), access devices, routers, and switches.
Following Modi’s clarion call to promote Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) in May last year, the prestigious program is aimed to provide impetus to the industry to move significant manufacturing capacities to India to boost the supply chain ecosystem, attracting more investment in the country.
In November 2020, the Cabinet approved the PLI scheme to boost local manufacturing across 10 sectors.
