Cabinet approves ₹12,195 crore PLI for telecom gear manufacturing

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a production-linked incentive (PLI) of ₹12,195 crore to locally manufactured telecom and networking equipment that would reduce India’s massive dependence on imports of such products, telecommunications, electronics and information technology (IT) minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Prasad said the PLI scheme was finalised after consultation with various stakeholders such as manufacturers, industry leaders and associations. He said the scheme will reduce the country’s imports of telecom equipment worth over ₹50,000 crore.

Currently, India imports 85% of its wireless telecom equipment even as it is preparing for a rollout of 5G service, which needs robust network and infrastructure.