The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs12,195-crore Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom equipment manufacturing, to promote Made-in-India gear and networking products, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

The Scheme is expected to encourage production of equipment worth Rs 2.44 lakh crore and create direct and indirect employment for about 40,000 people. The PLI scheme for telecom gear manufacturing will be operational from April 1, 2021. "In the coming five years we hope to have incremental production of Rs 2,44,200 crore, export worth Rs 1,95,360 crore, direct and indirect employment to 40,000 people and tax revenue of approximately Rs 17,000 crore to the country," telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said after the Cabinet meeting.

According to an official statement, the scheme is expected to bring an investment of over Rs 3,000 crore and generate huge direct and indirect employment and taxes both. Prasad said that the government is positioning India as a global powerhouse for manufacturing, and has created a conducive environment for ease of doing business. "Cabinet has approved PLI for telecom sector ... to ensure further progress of Make-in-India in telecom equipment space...5G equipment will also come...so it was important to give incentives.

The scheme is expected to offset huge imports of telecom equipment worth more than Rs 50,000 crores and reinforce it with "Made in India" products both for domestic markets and exports, the release said. The new scheme has an outlay of Rs 12,195 crores over five years, and its eligibility will be subject to achievement of a minimum threshold of cumulative incremental investment and incremental sales of manufactured goods.

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