Telecom imports under lens

Telecom imports under lens

Subject : Economy

Context: The government will devise a methodology to check imports from neighboring nations that are non­compliant with trusted source rules of the telecom sector, Minister for Communications and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

Concept:

• India imports most of its Telecom equipment from China, South Korea and United States and is the largest importer of Telecom equipment in the World.
• The top 3 importers of Telecom equipment are India with 99,029 shipments followed by South Korea with 15,933 and Hong Kong at the 3rd spot with 13,409 shipments.
• Top  Product Categories of Telecom equipment Imports in India are machines for the reception conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice images or other data including switching and routing apparatus and populated loaded or stuffed printed circuit boards

Steps taken:

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended the setting up of a Rs. 1,000 crore fund for promoting research and innovation in the sector.India should aim at net zero imports of telecommunications equipment by 2022.
• The Union Cabinet has approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the telecom sector with an outlay of Rs. 12,195 crores over five years.
• A task force has been set up for creating the component ecosystem. Another task force has been set up for developing 4­5 chips, then taking those chips from design to production. A third task force has been set up to develop highly skilled workers, designers in the telecom sector