India is becoming self-reliant in the telecom sector, investment of Rs 3,400 crore in three years from PLI scheme
Export: India is becoming self-reliant in the field of telecom. An investment of Rs 3,400 crore has been made in three years on the strength of the PLI scheme. At the same time, the sale of equipment in the country in this sector has crossed 50 thousand crores.
Muskan 
Riding on the back of PLI and Make in India, the country is rapidly gearing up to live the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' pertaining to telecom and networking products. The PLI has contributed more than Rs 50,000 crore in the highest-ever manufacturing sales for any three-year cycle with respect to this country insofar as it pertains to telecom equipment. The Centre on Wednesday termed it a big achievement for the country. This sale also includes exports of about Rs 10,500 crore.
In the last three years, the PLI scheme has helped the telecom sector receive an investment of Rs 3,400 crore and provided both direct and indirect employment to over 17,800 individuals.
As per the government, against the backdrop of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision and with the PLI for large-scale manufacturing of telecom and networking products and electronics, there is a massive increase in production, generation of employment, economic growth, and exports.
Other than the PLI scheme, various other initiatives by the government have significantly narrowed the telecom imports versus exports gap. In 2023-24, exports of Rs 1.49 lakh crore were made for products including both telecom equipment and mobiles. Imports were over Rs 1.53 lakh crore in the same period.
The PLI scheme has managed to bring down India's dependency on imported telecom equipment by 60 percent. This made the country almost self-sufficient in some products. Indian manufacturers were competing globally. Exporting 5G equipment into North America and Europe. That is why the Trade deficit in the telecom sector-telecom equipment and mobile has come down from Rs 68,000 crore to Rs 4,000 crore in the last five years. The country's electronic sector has increased manifold production and export of mobile phones with the help of PLI scheme. Now, India is becoming an exporter from importer of mobile phones. In the year 2014-15, only 5.8 crore mobile phones were produced in the country and 21 crore units were imported. But in 2023-24 production of mobile phones increased up to 33 crores. The country exported 5 crore mobile phones during this period. From Rs 1,556 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 1,367 crore in 2017-18, India sold mobile phones worth Rs 1,28,982 crore to different countries of the world in 2023-24. The import has also reduced from Rs 48,609 crore in 2014-15 to just Rs 7,665 crore in 2023-24.
