Govt plans telecom PLI revamp, may focus on MSMEs, exports

The government is planning to revamp the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the telecom sector in a bid to quickly boost exports and incorporate more micro and small units into the manufacturing ecosystem, officials said.

- SUBHAYAN CHAKRABORTY

Funding for the expanded scheme may not be a challenge since the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) has surplus funds of more than 1,000 crore for the purpose, they pointed out.

The move to expand the scheme stems from the increasing need to set up a full-scale telecom manufacturing ecosystem in the country, and covering a larger set of network equipment will be key to it, the officials said. The scheme aims to promote domestic manufacturing of telecom and networking products. "Triggering higher levels of domestic value addition in key product categories was required when the scheme was brought in. That has happened, and we need to expand it to the next level. There is a need to quickly capture market demand for telecom gear in key countries currently going through their own 5G rollout," said one of the officials.