Govt Launches PLI For Design led Manufacturing of Telecom Equipments to Develop 5G Ecosystem in India

Department of Telecommunications(DoT) announced Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme on 24th February 2021, with a financial outlay of Rs, 12,195 Crores. A total of 31 companies, comprising 16 MSMEs and 15 Non-MSMEs including 8 Domestic and 7 Global companies were given approval on 14th October 2021.

At the Union Budget 2022-23 earlier this year, the government announced that PLI Scheme for design-led manufacturing to build a strong ecosystem for 5G will be introduced soon. As promised, the government has announced the guidelines for it and has also started registrations.

Further, DoT based on feedbacks from stakeholders including the selected PLI Applicants, has announced that it is extending the existing PLI Scheme by one year. The existing PLI beneficiaries will be given an option to choose financial year 2021-22 or financial year 2022-23 as the first year of incentive.

DoT has also approved the addition of 11 new telecom and networking products to the existing list.

Investment made by successful applicants in India from 1st April 2022 onwards and up to Financial Year (FY) 2025-2026 shall be eligible, subject to qualifying incremental annual thresholds.
The Scheme is open to both MSME and Non-MSME Companies, including Domestic and Global Companies.
The applications from Design-led manufacturers shall be prioritized over other manufacturers while shortlisting.
The Design Led Manufacturing is primarily aimed to support efforts for designing telecom products in India.
It will recognize and encourage R&D-driven manufacturing in the country to enhance its contribution to global value chain, as envisaged in the National Digital Communication Policy, 2018.
Applicants will have to satisfy the minimum Global Revenue criteria to be eligible under the Scheme.
The Company may decide to invest for single or multiple eligible products.
The Scheme stipulates a minimum investment threshold of Rs. 10 Crores for MSME and Rs. 100 Crores for non MSME applicants.
Land and building cost will not be counted as investment.
Eligibility shall be further subject to Incremental Sales of Manufactured Goods (covered under Scheme Target Segments) over the base year (FY2019-20).
The allocation for MSME has been enhanced from Rs. 1000 Crores to Rs. 2500 Crores.

Application process

Interested eligible Applicants can register for the Scheme at pli-telecom.udyamimitra.in. The Application window is open till 20th July 2022 and will offer a total incentive of more than Rs. 4,000 crores

The government said that this will give a boost to manufacturing of telecom and networking products to develop 5G ecosystem for India.