Centre to disburse Rs 400 cr to 20 firms under PLI scheme for telecom gear

All of these 20 companies, including Nokia and Jabil, have met their targets under the production-linked incentive scheme for manufacturing telecom goods

In the current financial year, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to disburse Rs 400 crore to 20 companies as incentives, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Thursday. The list of companies likely to benefit includes Nokia, Jabil, HFCL and VVDN.

According to the report, all 20 companies have met their targets under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing telecom goods. Many companies will be receiving incentives for the first time.

Under the scheme, notified in February 2021, 31 companies were approved to participate in manufacturing telecom and networking products. It offers 4 to 7 per cent incentives for different categories and product types. The incentive is 1 per cent higher for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Later, an additional 1 per cent incentive was added for companies that facilitate design-led manufacturing. A sum of Rs 12,195 crore was allocated for the scheme.

The scheme was revised after the Covid-19 pandemic, and 42 companies were given a thumbs up by the department to participate. It included 28 MSMEs. Out of 42 companies, 17 companies were with design-led manufacturing products.

"These 42 companies have committed investment of Rs 4,115 crore, additional sales of Rs 2.45 trillion and will create employment of more than 44,000 over the scheme period. The number of applicants indicates the response from industry for making India a global manufacturing hub for telecom and networking products," the Ministry of Communications said.

The list of companies included HFCL, ITI, Netlink ICT, Netweb Technologies, Panache Digilife, Vihaan Networks and Tejas Networks.