Revised draft of PMA on telecom equipment being finalized

Telecom Ministry is in the final stages of submitting to the Cabinet for approval the revised version of the Preferential Market Access (PMA) policy that will apply to the supply of electronic and telecom equipment having security implications.
Sources said the inter-ministerial consultations on the PMA policy have been completed and the Communications and IT Ministry is in the process of compiling the final draft which will be put up in the Cabinet for approval.
"The draft preparation is in advanced stages and will be sent to the Cabinet soon," the sources said.
In July, the Prime Minister's Office had asked the IT and Telecom Ministry to rework the framework and exempt telecom equipment or other technology products procured by private sector from the policy.

The previous version of PMA Policy approved by the Cabinet on February 2, 2012 called for giving preference to domestically manufactured electronic products that have security implications for the country, covering the government as well as the private sector.
The policy saw major opposition, mostly from US-based groups. The US government itself has limited import of technology products from Chinese companies on security grounds, including cyber espionage threat.
On July 8, the PMO had said "the revised proposal on PMA in the private sector for security-related products will not have domestic manufacturing requirements, percentage based or otherwise".
According to sources, under the revised proposal, the government is likely to include the defence sector which was exempted in the previous version of the policy.