Telecom PLI attracts Rs 5,200 crore investment, creates 32,500 jobs

The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and networking products has attracted more than Rs 5,200 crore in investment and generated about Rs 1.1 lakh crore in sales, including exports of more than Rs 23,500 crore, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) told the Parliamentary Committee on Communications and Information Technology.

As of February 2026, the scheme had generated about 32,500 jobs and helped establish 22 new manufacturing units across 10 states over the past four years, DoT said in its response in the committee’s report dated August 6, 2026.

The scheme was launched with a total outlay of Rs 12,195 crore. The committee had earlier recorded sales of Rs 1,03,859 crore, exports of Rs 21,898 crore and employment of approximately 29,000 people.

For FY2025-26, the budget estimate was Rs 1,965.5 crore, revised to Rs 1,944 crore. Actual utilisation stood at Rs 1,597.93 crore as of March 31, 2026, reported Money Control.

The committee had raised concerns over slow fund utilisation. DoT said claims are based on audited financial statements, usually filed in December of the following financial year, leading to higher disbursements towards the end of the financial year.

DoT has now allowed companies to submit claims quarterly instead of annually. It has also introduced standard procedures and an online system to track claims and payments.

Separately, DoT has established 100 5G use case labs under the Technology Development and Investment Promotion (TDIP) scheme.

The department has introduced an 11-parameter framework to evaluate the labs, covering use-case progress, industry linkages, scalability and outcomes.

The committee said the PLI scheme had shown good results in sales, exports and jobs but raised concerns over slow incentive payments. It asked DoT to simplify procedures, remove delays and address domestic value addition issues.