DoT signs MoU with MP for India's first Telecom Manufacturing Zone

Centre and Madhya Pradesh sign MoU for telecom manufacturing hub, targeting up to Rs 9,000 crore in investments and around 10,000 jobs

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Government of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish India's first Telecom Manufacturing Zone in Gwalior.

 

“India has to move from a services nation to a product nation. Building a telecom manufacturing ecosystem is not merely an economic necessity but a strategic national imperative. Digital sovereignty only comes true when we have manufacturing sovereignty,” said Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister for Communications and Development of the North Eastern Region, in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and industry leaders.

 

The total grant-in-aid from the DoT for the two industrial parks, spanning 170 acres, is Rs 493 crore. Of this, Rs 270 crore has been earmarked as capital outlay for testing facilities and the laboratory ecosystem. An integrated telecom testing and certification ecosystem has been proposed, with two laboratory centres covering eight testing domains.

 

According to the Ministry of Communications, industrial plots will be made available to telecom manufacturing and testing units at an annual lease of Re 1 per square metre for 30 years. Land will also be earmarked for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), plug-and-play facilities and logistics operations.

 

The government also announced a capital subsidy of 50 per cent on a minimum investment of Rs 200 crore, along with support of up to 25 per cent of standalone research and development (R&D) investment or Rs 25 crore, whichever is lower. It also announced 100 per cent reimbursement of stamp duty, along with concessions on water and power supply.

 

Additionally, employment assistance of Rs 5,000 per month for new employees and training support of Rs 13,000 each for the first 4,000 new employees were announced.

 

“Based on the signing of the MoU, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be constituted, with the Telecom Secretary and a representative of the Madhya Pradesh government as co-chairs. Any bottleneck facing this project will be cleared by the Centre and the state government,” Scindia said.

 

The communications minister later said the government intends to attract investments of around Rs 8,000-9,000 crore and create 9,000-10,000 jobs through the project.

 

“The first phase is for three years, during which these proposed factories will be ready for inauguration. We will also start planning for the second phase,” Scindia told reporters.

 

For the next phase of the project, the government plans to raise the investment target to Rs 10,000 crore, he added.

 

At an investor roundtable later, at least 15 companies, including Dixon Technologies, committed investments of nearly Rs 3,500 crore and proposed creating around 14,000 jobs. Industry representatives sought clarity on mortgaging allocated land as collateral for loans and urged the minister to review the conditions governing employment subsidies.

 

Senior officials later indicated that the Madhya Pradesh government is considering increasing the land allocation for the project to 500 acres over time.