Demands to treat domestic companies equally in policies of telecom equipment manufacturers

Foreign companies manufacturing telecom equipment like Nokia, Ericsson and Cisco demanded that they be treated in the same manner as domestic companies in manufacturing policy decisions. Senior officials of these companies were speaking at the Indian Mobile Congress-2020 on Thursday.

Appreciating the government’s efforts to boost exports, he suggested that a component ecosystem should be developed in the country that promotes domestic value addition in products made in India. Amit Marwah, head (marketing and corporate affairs), Nokia Corporation, said, “Market access should be made fair which does not discriminate on the basis of ownership of the company.”

He termed the Production Promotion Scheme (PLI) as a future-looking policy. “Our current investment in the country should also be taken into consideration before deciding on the next level,” he said. Marwah said that Nokia has spent about Rs 600 crore to set up the Chennai plant. Apart from this, it has also invested about Rs 2,500 crore on setting up many other plants and facilities in the country.

Nokia started its operations in the country with 50 employees and now has more than 15,000 employees. The government has started promoting domestic manufacturing. Along with this, it has also started giving preference to Indian companies in government procurement.

Ericsson India managing director Nitin Bansal said that we also have to see that access to the market is fair. A company like ours has been operating in India since 1903. India has more employees than any other country. There should be no discrimination in the country between a foreign company and an Indian company. Rather, there is a need to provide equal access to the market.

Cisco Systems Managing Director (Public Affairs and Strategic Partnership in India and SAARC), Harish Krishnan said that there is a need to develop ecosystems for components in India. And if it is made, then companies will have no reason to import it from other countries. He said that providing preferential access to the market is not beneficial for both Indian and foreign companies as non-genuine value addition rules are framed in the policy. This is because many of the essential components for technology products are imported from select countries only.