Global innovations must be leveraged for Atmanirbharta in telecom manufacturing

Broadband India Forum (BIF), the leading policy forum and think-tank for digital transformation and broadband proliferation in the country, organised a virtual session of The Digital Dialogues today. An Industry White Paper on Atmanirbharta in Telecom Manufacturing was also released on the occasion by the Chief Guest Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Government of India, and TK Paul, Member (T), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), who joined as the Special Guest of Honour. The session delved on the several policy and regulatory initiatives undertaken, and further required actions to strengthen and optimize the national mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat and its progressive objectives. These would lead to significant economic benefits for the country, by helping establish India prominently in the global manufacturing map and supply chain ecosystem, decreasing reliance on import of critical technologies and infrastructure, and thereby making it truly Atmanirbhar.

Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, in his address, said, “The Government is determined to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ with a world-class manufacturing infrastructure and transform it into a competitive global manufacturing destination, an important part of the global supply chain. Aggressive duty reforms, and various incentive schemes have been introduced to encourage domestic manufacturing and thereby help reduce the import bills in the high value sectors. I am delighted to release today this White Paper by BIF on ‘Atmanirbharta in Telecom Manufacturing’ and I’m glad to note the number of opportunities that exist for the industry to utilise, with the help of the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Telecom announced by the Government. This would provide a big boost to local manufacturing of the device ecosystem as well, a critical driver for our ‘Digital India’ goals.”

The White Paper, titled “Atmanirbharta in Telecom Manufacturing” is an initiative of the High-Level Manufacturing Network Committee of BIF, and explores various critical facets of the Telecom Manufacturing vertical, including the Building Blocks for an ‘Atma-Nirbhar Bharat’ and the role of Digital Communications in supporting the same, opportunities for telecom in the PLI Scheme, the evolving device ecosystem, making India the preferred investment destination, ease of doing business and regulatory compliance.

TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum, commented: “The idea of Atmanirbharta is to leverage the global ecosystem and innovations to build on our competence, and grow in sync with the global economy to achieve world class manufacturing and supply chain leadership for India. For that, we need enabling laws and policies alongside voluntary, incentive-led schemes to propel investments in infrastructure and boost technology driven systems, so as to provide a fillip to local businesses through organic demand and investments – both domestic and global. This approach is the sustainable way to make India the preferred destination for investment, and a long-term pivotal player in the global supply chain.”
CT Bureau