Nod to Rs 12,000-crore PLI scheme for telecom equipment

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 12,195-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom equipment manufacturing in the country, which like the one approved for mobile phones earlier, is designed to offer incentives to the chosen firms for incremental production over base year. Through such PLI schemes, the government is aiming to reduce imports, boost domestic production, increase employment and export competitiveness.

The scheme, which would be operational from April 1, would lead to incremental production of around Rs 2.4 lakh crore with exports of around Rs 2 lakh crore over five years. The scheme is expected to bring investment of over Rs 3,000 crore and generate huge direct and indirect employment and taxes both, an official statement said.

Telecom equipment which would get covered under the scheme, includes core transmission equipment, 4G/5G next generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access and customer premises equipment (CPE), Internet of things (IoT) access devices, other wireless equipment and enterprise equipment like switches, routers, etc.