The Indian government has finalized PLI norms for the telecom and network equipment manufacturing. The cabinet had recently approved the broader PLI scheme worth Rs 12,200 crore (€1.4 billion) to boost local manufacturing of telecom gear for both the domestic market and exports. The scheme will cover core transmission equipment, 4G/5G and next-generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access, and customer premise equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) access devices, and enterprise equipment such as switches and router.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland H.E. Ms. Sanna Marin held a Virtual Summit and discussed the entire gamut of bilateral issues as well as other regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest. The two leaders reviewed the ongoing bilateral engagements and expressed their desire to further expand and diversify the relationship across sectors such as trade and investment, innovation, education, emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence, 5G/6G, and quantum computing. PM appreciated Finland’s leading role in clean and green technologies and noted the potential for Finnish companies to partner India’s drive towards sustainable development.

Prime Minister said, that India is on track to achieving its climate goals well before the target date as it switches over to energy-efficient mediums and uses waste to generate energy. Speaking after accepting the 2021 CERAWeek Global Energy & Environment Leadership Award for his commitment to energy sustainability and the environment, Modi said climate change and calamity are major challenges facing the world. Both are interlinked, and one way to fight them is through policies, laws, rules, and orders, and the other is bringing behavioral change, he said, listing measures taken by his government for sustainable energy usage.

Telecom gear vendors like Nokia, Huawei and ZTE have said that TEC’s move to put mandatory testing and certification for wireline equipment on hold will impact deployments in the country. The Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) informed all vendors through notices that certifications issued have been put on hold till further notice due to “anomaly” found in the process of phase-II of Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecommunication Equipment (MTCTE) regime. Under the phase-2, telecom equipment makers were supposed to get certification for transmission terminal equipment, passive optical network family (PON) of broadband equipment and feedback devices.
 

The Indian government has finalized PLI norms for the telecom and network equipment manufacturing. The cabinet had recently approved the broader PLI scheme worth Rs 12,200 crore (€1.4 billion)  to boost local manufacturing of telecom gear for both the domestic market and exports. The scheme will cover core transmission equipment, 4G/5G and next-generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access and customer premise equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) access devices, and enterprise equipment such as switches and router.The Indian government has finalized PLI norms for the telecom and network equipment manufacturing. The cabinet had recently approved the broader PLI scheme worth Rs 12,200 crore (€1.4 billion)  to boost local manufacturing of telecom gear for both the domestic market and exports. The scheme will cover core transmission equipment, 4G/5G and next-generation radio access network and wireless equipment, access and customer premise equipment (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) access devices, and enterprise equipment such as switches and router.

Prime Minister said production linked incentive scheme, which is aimed at boosting domestic manufacturing and exports, is expected to increase the country's production by USD 520 billion in the next five years. In this year's Budget, about Rs 2 lakh crore was earmarked for the PLI scheme for the next five years and "there is an expectation that the scheme would result in increasing the production by about USD 520 billion in the next five years".  There is also an expectation that the current workforce in the sectors, which will avail the benefits of the PLI scheme, will be doubled and job creation will also increase.

The Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister has called for embarking on Mission 'one nation one standard' and make India the leader in setting global benchmarks in setting standards. He said that lab testing in India should be of world standards and modern equipment and latest technologies should be used. BIS should explore international partnerships and associations to achieve synergy in the field. He said that "gap analysis" of BIS and government labs be taken up on a priority basis as well. In management parlance, gap analysis refers to the comparison of actual performance with potential or desired performance.

The DoT has directed to give preference to locally produced cybersecurity products in public procurement. “Preference has to be given to ‘Make in India’ cyber security products in public procurement by central ministries/departments, public sector undertakings (PSUs) and government organisations,” the DoT said in a circular issued. The development came after the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology said that it was awash with complaints from droves of indigenous cyber product companies about the challenges, they were facing in participating in public procurement of such products.

With an eye on supporting domestic manufacturers, the government proposed an increase in customs duty on certain imported components used in automobiles. In the Budget 2021-22, the Finance Minister proposed an increase in customs duty of various parts including ignition wiring sets, safety glass and parts of signalling equipment to 15 % with effect from February. The government said the changes in basic customs duty is for creating a level-playing field for the benefit of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and other domestic manufacturers.

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has brought out 'BIS Talks' Films series on standardization in different technology sectors. The films are primarily educational in nature and present an overview of the standardization activities carried out through Technical Committees of BIS. It is envisaged that this knowledge would enable various stakeholders such as industry, academia, research & development institutions, Govt. Bodies, laboratories etc. to reap the benefits of standardization and also to contribute towards strengthening it through their valuable inputs. The 'BIS Talks' Films can be accessed through our website www.bis.gov.in or directly through the link  http://203.153.41.213:8081/php/bistalks/.