NEW DELHI: India is setting up telecommunication equipment manufacturing zones in the country, as the sector is expected to go through a revolution in attracting foreign direct investments, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday.
Speaking at the launch of Cisco’s manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu, Scindia said India aims to become the global telecom manufacturing hub. He also inaugurated the CISCO-FLEX manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur.
Telecom transformation, technological triumph. On our mission to make India the global telecom manufacturing hub, inaugurated the CISCO-FLEX manufacturing facility in Sriperumbudur,” said the minister.
The facility will manufacture Network Convergence System routers, creating high-quality jobs in the state. Additionally, products from the Sriperumbudur facility will be exported to Mexico, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, and the US.
Scindia noted that over the past decade, India has exported mobile phones worth Rs 1.28 lakh crore under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. He recalled that the country previously imported most mobile phones and shipped only Rs 1,500 crore worth abroad. “Now we have become the second-largest producer of mobile phones in the world, with 300 million units produced in India,” he said.
“Value addition in mobile phones has increased by 20 percent, largely due to changes in FDI norms implemented by our government,” he added. “With $39 billion in FDI, it’s time for the telecom equipment manufacturing sector to undergo a similar transformation. We achieved the fastest 5G rollout in India, covering 98 percent of our cities.”
Scindia also visited the Nokia Solutions & Networks campus in Chennai, where he witnessed innovative applications of Industry 4.0 technologies driving telecom manufacturing advancements. During his visit, Scindia received a tour showcasing cutting-edge technologies like private wireless, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) [3).
Scindia emphasised the significance of Industry 4.0 for high-tech telecom manufacturing and praised Nokia’s commitment to fostering world-class manufacturing in India. This visit aligns with India’s goal to become a global telecom manufacturing hub, as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.