The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has approved the proposals of telecom players for the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the telecom and networking products. The scheme was notified earlier on February 24, 2021, and is said to have an outlay worth Rs 12,195 crore over five years for these products.

This scheme is expected to encourage the production of equipment worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore. It has proposed an incentive of 7-4 percent on incremental sales. DoT anticipates incremental sales worth Rs 182,000, an investment of Rs 3,245 crore, and the creation of additional 42,000 jobs.

"The investment of Rs 3,345 crore in the next 4.5 years is just a beginning. Government is helping you (industry players) as a catalyst," Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said.

The global players approved are Foxconn, Nokia, Rising Star, Jabil, Flex, Sabrina, Commscope. The domestic players approved by the DoT are Tejas Networks, Dixon, VVDN Tech, NeoLync, Syrma, Akashastha, ITI, and HFCL Group. NeoLync is an early-stage startup, Syrma is a small entity based out of Chennai, and Akashastha is a small-time manufacturer based out of Mumbai incorporated early this year. The former Tata Sons CFO Erunch Noshir Kapadia is a part of the company's board.

The scheme can enable manufacturers to reach global scales and utilise their unused capacity and ramp up production. "This is the first scheme among all PLI schemes, which includes MSMEs. Without this, we would have been handicapped," Coral Telecom managing director Rajesh Tuli said.

With PTI inputs

Also Read | All you need to know about govt's PLI scheme for telecom sector

(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)

First Published:Oct 14, 2021 1:26 PM IST