Govt Shortlists 33 Cos to PLI Benefit from Rs 12,000-crore Telecom Incentives

The government has shortlisted 33 companies that will be awarded Rs 12,195-crore benefits under the production-linked-incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and networking equipment. The scheme has received 36 applications, three of which are being rejected, a source said.

The winners who would be notified soon have committed Rs 3,455 crore as proposed investments. Applications of Tech Mahindra, Sterlite Technologies and Kenstel Networks are likely to be rejected on technical grounds.

Of the eight global companies that have applied, seven applicants have made the cut: Taiwanese Foxconn (proposed investment Rs 208 crore), Rising Stars Hi-Tech (Rs 125 crore), Finnish Nokia Solutions (Rs 125 crore), American makers Flextronics (Rs 102 crore), Jabil Circuit (Rs 176 crore), CommScope (Rs 209 crore), and Sanmina-SCI (Rs 110 crore).

On the domestic side, 26 companies have made the cut, nine large ones, and 17 in the MSME category.

The Indian companies include Akashastha Technologies (proposed investment Rs 593 crore), VVDN Technologies (Rs 400 crore), Neolync Tele Communications (Rs 188 crore), Dixon Electro Appliances (180 crore), ITI (Rs 120 crore), Tejas Networks (111 crore), GDN Enterprises (Rs 46 crore) and STL Networks (Rs 49 crore).

The application of Sterlite Technologies filed under the global companies category is being rejected for falling short of the minimum threshold criteria of Rs 10,000-crore revenue. On the domestic side, the application of Tech Mahindra is being rejected as it is not engaged in manufacturing of telecom equipment, but only in software.

Kenstel Networks, which applied under MSME, has certified its revenues at Rs 6.4 crore, which is less than the stipulated Rs 10 crore threshold mandated for the category.

The government had floated the scheme to encourage domestic manufacturing in the telecom sector, including core transmission equipment, 4G/5G next-generation Radio Access Network, IoT access devices and enterprise products such as switches and routers.