Govt may ask global telcos to use 100% local content in equipment manufacturing: Report

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The government may incentivise global telecom companies to manufacture all their equipment in India using 100 percent local content.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will meet vendors on June 3 to seek their inputs and discuss ways to boost manufacturing, according to a Financial Express report.

The move will apply to handset manufacturers such as Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and Huawei, whose usage of local items in their products is only 40 percent. The government plans to raise the local content in their products to 100 percent, the report said.

Moneycomtrol could not independently verify the story.

The government plans to make India self-reliant in telecom manufacturing, the main reason being security concerns, Financial Express reported.

"If all the equipment is manufactured here with 100 percent local content, the probability of control and snooping by foreign countries can be minimised," a source told the publication.

The Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the DoT's top decision-making body, had on May 11 approved a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to push telecom manufacturing.

Telecom vendors are of the view that 100 percent use of local equipment is possible, but all operators should be asked to comply with the norms, the report said.

"Currently only BSNL, being a state-run company has to follow the Make in India norms, while private players are free to buy from anyone. It does not make sense to increase capacity just for catering to BSNL,"  an official at a vendor told the paper.