Govt. to tighten scrutiny of imports; sets up 4-5 task forces to boost telecom manufacturing

‘Issue was discussed among representatives from customs, Finance Ministry and other Ministries’

The government will come up with a methodology to check imports from neighbouring nations, which are non-compliant with trusted source rules of the telecom sector, Union Minister for Communications and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

The Minister had a meeting with more than 40 CEOs of telecom gear makers that have qualified for the production linked incentive scheme; and has decided to set up 4-5 task forces to provide market support to them as well as streamline their business for value addition in the economy.

The equipment makers expressed concern around the import of network gear from China, which is being routed through other neighbouring countries.

When asked about concerns around such imports, the Minister said, "This issue was discussed. Representatives from customs department, Finance Ministry and other Ministries... work will be done on it to devise how to check it in a methodical manner." The Minister said that the companies under telecom PLI are close to starting the export of equipment and India will become an exporting nation very soon.

"During the meeting, many new ideas came, for which we have set up 5-6 task forces. A task force has been set up for creating the component ecosystem. Another task force has been set up for developing 4-5 chips, then taking those chips from design to production. Third task force has been set up to develop highly skilled workers, designers in the telecom sector," Mr. Vaishnaw said.

He said that the companies asked for support in testing and certification, which is required for exporting products, for which another task force has been set up to optimise the use of test beds in IIT Madras, Telecom Engineering Centre.

"From my interaction, industry is confident that they are in good traction and India should become a technology exporter in the coming years in a very sure and certain way," Mr. Vaishnaw said.