As many as 31 proposals entailing an investment of Rs 3,345 crore over the next four and a half years was approved by the Department of Telecom on Thursday.
"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 companies selected for the PLI scheme include Nokia India, HFCL, Dixon Technologies, Flextronics, Foxconn, Coral Telecom, VVDN Technologies, Akashastha Technologies, and GS India.
The DoT notified the PLI scheme for telecom and networking products on February 24, 2021, with a financial outlay of Rs 12,195 crore, over the five years.
The scheme for telecom gear manufacturing in India is expected to encourage the production of equipment worth Rs 2.44 lakh crore and create direct and indirect employment for about 40,000 people.
The investors can earn an incentive for incremental sales up to 20 times the committed investment, enabling them 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.
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Rakesh Warrier, Partner, J Sagar Associates (JSA), said, “Thirty one approvals in one go clearly indicates the interest and readiness of several companies to avail the benefits of the PLI Scheme. We are looking at long term benefits here, not just in terms of domestic manufacturing but for the entire telecom sector as such. In addition to generating significant investments and associated benefits (such as employment), this step of the regulator will also be an impetus for other applicants to come forward with similar proposals."
(With PTI inputs)
