DoT Might Announce New Guidelines For Telecom PLI Scheme

DoT is likely to come up with new guidelines for telecom equipment makers. The new production-linked incentive (PLI) guidelines are for those companies, which are planning to invest more in the country. This will help the Government attract more investment in the telecom sector.

This also means that the highest bidding companies might get a chance to avail the benefit of the PLI scheme. Notably, Nokia and Ericsson, Samsung, Cisco, Foxconn, Flex Ciena, and others are planning to expand their manufacturing base in the country under the same scheme.

"Ericsson and Nokia are keen to expand their existing operation in India for the global supply chain. Global telecom companies like Samsung, Cisco, Ciena, and Engineering Manufacturing Services (EMS) companies like Jabil USA, Foxconn Taiwan, Sanmina USA, and Flex USA have shown interest to set up manufacturing in India," the Government said while announcing the current situation of the PLI scheme.

Minimum Investment Required Under The PLI Scheme

According to the Government PLI scheme, all micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have to invest Rs. 10 crores, while other companies have to invest Rs. 100 crores. The scheme is likely to bring an investment of Rs. 3000 crores, reports Financial Express.

"The scheme has a special category for MSME recognizing the fact that MSMEs play an important role in the telecom manufacturing ecosystem. For MSMEs, one percent (1 percent) higher incentive is proposed in the initial 3 years. The minimum Investment threshold for MSME has been kept at Rs. 10 crores," the Government added.

The report states that the ministry is expected to announce 20 companies under the new PLI guidelines. This includes 10 MSMEs and 10 big companies, such as Nokia and
Ericsson. The report pointed out that there are chances that big players might try to remove the small companies from the list. Furthermore, the Department for the promotion of industry and internal trade, NitiAayog, and the commerce ministry are expected to clear the draft guidelines.

The Government issued the list of all telecom equipment makers that will be covered in the scheme. This includes 4G, 5G radio access networks, customer premises equipment, IoT devices, routers, switches, and more.