Telecom equipment imports at over Rs 39,000 cr in Apr-Dec

The country imported Rs 52,441.23 crore worth of telecom equipments in FY12

India imported telecom equipment worth Rs 39,820.60 crore in the first three quarters of this fiscal as it lacks manufacturing capability for producing value-added products, Parliament was informed today.

The country imported Rs 52,441.23 crore worth of telecom equipments in the 2011-12 fiscal, Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

"Presently, wireless equipment with sufficient value addition are not being manufactured in the country," he added.

To promote telecom equipment manufacturing in India, the government under its National Telecom Policy 2012 (NTP-2012) will create a corpus to promote indigenous R&D, IPR creation, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, commercialisation and development of products and services, the minister said.

"Provide preference to domestically manufactured telecommunication products in procurement of those telecommunication products, which have security implications for the country and in government procurement for its own use, consistent with our WTO commitments," Deora added.

In February last year, the government laid down a policy for providing preference to domestically manufactured electronic products in procurement.