Home‑grown telecom equipment makers have objected to the centre’s notification that labels products made under the production‑linked incentive (PLI) scheme as Class 2, a move that could let international suppliers such as Ericsson and Nokia compete for government projects.
The Voice of Indian Communication Technology Enterprises (VoICE) maintains that Class 2 status should apply only to products and vendors with complete control over both design and manufacturing, in keeping with the design‑led PLI scheme.
VoICE’s membership includes Indian firms such as Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited (HFCL), Sterlite Technologies Limited (STL), Lekha Wireless, Tidal Wave, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the Centre for Development of Telematics (C‑DoT), Amantya Technologies, VVDN, and Coral Telecom.
Further, the latest notification dated October 21, 2024 sets minimum local‑content thresholds between 50 per cent and 65 per cent and places caps from 15 per cent for low‑IP items to 55 per cent for high-IP, software‑centric products.
Meanwhile, the government has so far released Rs 3.32 billion in incentives to 18 of the 42 approved companies under the telecom PLI programme. Consequently, Jabil Circuit India tops the list of beneficiaries with Rs 786 million, followed by Nokia Solutions and Networks India (Rs 469 million), Tejas Networks (Rs 327 million), Flextronics Technologies India (Rs 306 million), Commscope India (Rs 260 million), NeoLync Tele Communications (Rs 218 million), and Rising Stars Hi Tech (Rs 203 million).
The Delhi‑based body also asked that equipment such as 4G and 5G radios and core networks, internet protocol multiprotocol label switching (IP‑MPLS) routers, and dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)/ optical transport network (OTN) systems be shifted to Class 1, noting that these items are now being designed and developed within the country.
Moreover, VoICE stressed that hardware design and software copyright form key parts of total design cost, arguing that Indian ownership of these assets is essential for meeting local‑content rules and, if necessary, should be tightened to prevent abuse, an idea firmly opposed by cloud and software giants.
By contrast, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, Salesforce, and Systems, Applications and Products (SAP) have asked the telecom ministry to exclude software products and services from local‑content rules under the 2017 Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) policy, arguing that defining local content is ambiguous and could deter investment and job creation.
The US‑based lobby group added that software solutions depend on global teams, outsourced providers across multiple countries, and third‑party licensed code.
