New Delhi, Nov 27 : The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and networking products has seen 42 applicant companies (including 28 MSMEs) with a cumulative investment of Rs 3,925 crore and exports reaching Rs 12,384 crore (till September 30), the government informed the Parliament on Wednesday.

This PLI scheme was launched in June 2021 with a total financial outlay of Rs 12,195 crore.

Till September, the applicant companies had clocked total sales worth Rs 65,320 crore, Minister of State for Communications, Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question.

Salient features of the scheme are 33 telecom and networking products, incentives ranging from 4 to 7 per cent, an additional 1 per cent incentive for MSMEs for the first 3 years, and an additional 1 per cent incentive for products 'Designed in India'.

The minister informed that to bolster local manufacturing, the Telecom Technology Development Fund (TTDF) scheme was launched in 2022 with the aim of funding research and development of technologies, products and services for providing telecom services in rural and remote areas.

Another scheme, Digital Communications Innovation Square (DCIS), was launched in 2021 to support the translation of innovative ideas and knowledge in engineering into pilot scale operation, field deployment or viable technology development.

The PLI scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing was notified in 2020 to provide incentives to eligible companies on incremental sales (over the base year) involved in mobile phone manufacturing and manufacturing of specified electronic components, including Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) units.

The Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) was notified in 2020 to provide a financial incentive of 25 per cent on capital expenditure for the identified list of electronic goods that comprise the downstream value chain of electronic products, i.e., electronic components, semiconductor/ display fabrication units, ATMP units, specialized sub-assemblies and capital goods for manufacture of aforesaid goods.

The Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) scheme was also notified in 2020 to provide support for the creation of world-class infrastructure along with common facilities and amenities, including Ready Built Factory (RBF) sheds/Plug and Play facilities for attracting major global electronics manufacturers along with their supply chain to set up units in the country.

/IANS