New Delhi, May 6: The telecom ministry is weighing financial incentives for gear makers to encourage domestic production.
It is also planning sops for telecom service providers to buy local equipment, said officials.
At present, just 12-13 per cent of mobile equipment are India-made, with the rest imported from Europe and China.
Even the bulk of the local equipment are made by foreign firms — Indian companies account for only 3 per cent of the equipment needs, telecom regulator Trai’s estimates reveal.
At a recent industry meeting on equipment use, telecom minister Kapil Sibal said, “There is a need for fiscal incentive to ensure adequate credit flow to the sector so that the growth of the sector is not adversely affected.”
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the Indian market for mobile equipment is expected to grow from $12.5 billion in 2009-10 to $40 billion in 2020.
Security concerns associated with foreign equipment are also behind the push for local equipment.
Intelligence agencies are worried of foreign equipment being embedded with spyware, posing a threat to national security.
Though there are around 25 players involved in the business of making telecom gear in the country, a majority of these are foreign-owned companies such as Nokia, Siemens, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei.
State-run Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Himachal Futuristic Communications and Shyam Telecom are some of the few Indian manufacturers.
