Telecom PLI Extension Sought, Value Addition Urged

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) Telecom industry players asked the government to extend the production-linked incentive scheme for another five years, push for higher value addition in the domestically produced gears and support companies to build up scale to compete globally.

During a roundtable chaired by telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia at India Mobile Congress 2025, Nokia India country manager Tarun Chhabra mentioned the need to enhance support for electronics components locally in the country.

"We are going to have the semiconductor facilities coming to India sometime. We have to work together on how these components can be available in India, so that it helps us to procure from India," he said.

Chhabra said Nokia has been manufacturing products for 15-16 years, but still has to source many components from outside.

"I think as an industry, we have to work a bit more on this one, and how we can get these components... and that will help to add a better condition in India, and create more jobs in India," he said.

Ericsson, Head of Market Area Southeast Asia, Oceania and India, Andres Vicente, raised similar issues around the non-availability of components locally.

Zetwerk President for Electronics, Josh Foulger, asked the minister to extend the telecom PLI scheme for another five years as it will help the country in catching up with the 6G ecosystem where the government has set a target to achieve 10 per cent share in the patent space.

Naveen Yandru, the CEO of local chip company Axiro, said that his company's chips are being deployed in telecom gear of leading companies and need support from the government to build scale.

He said that while the company's chipsets compete with that of leading semiconductor giants but because of lack of scale it is unable to get the price of wafers and other material required for competitiveness.

Samsung Southwest Asia, President & CEO, JB Park, said that there is a lot of opportunity in India in upgrading 2G users to smartphones, as it will help them get better jobs.

A TCS official requested the minister to make available funds through Telecom Technology Development Fund to big local companies to help them in designing products locally and build scale to compete with global majors.

Scindia, however, questioned the need for funding because big companies have access to a lot of funds and market dynamics keep changing when big companies turn pygmies and vice versa.

The minister said that there are a number of advisory groups that are helping the telecom ministry shape policies, and he is open to creating additional groups aligned with specific objectives.