“We are aiming to expand our manufacturing line up to add new products - fixed network OLT and IP optics”

Nokia is one of the largest manufacturers of telecom equipment in the country and beneficiary of the PLI scheme on account of the sheer scale of its Make in India initiatives.

By Amit Marwah

In a chat with Voice & Data, Amit Marwah. Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Nokia India shared his views on the PLI scheme.

Nokia’s Chennai plan has won numerous awards like Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award, the Economics Times-India Manufacturing Excellence Award, FICCI Quality Systems Excellence Awards for Manufacturing.

What are the key steps that you think the government has taken to create an enabling framework for local manufacturing — do give context from your industry and references?

One of the most significant measures taken by the government to enable local manufacturing in India is the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and networking products. The scheme, announced in the Union Budget 2021-2022 covering 13 key sectors including telecom, promises to transform the domestic telecom manufacturing sector and will play a crucial role in boosting India’s export of telecom gear

The scheme is designed to accelerate domestic manufacturing of telecom and networking products by incentivizing incremental investments. With a total outlay of Rs 12,195 crore over five years, the Indian Government has approved 31 companies including Nokia under the PLI scheme.

Nokia is one of the largest investors under the PLI scheme and has already exceeded its target under this scheme for the first year of the program.

Further, while we welcome the government’s Indian Semiconductor Mission and other incentive initiatives towards boosting electronics and telecom manufacturing in India, some other measures can be considered to accelerate these initiatives:

• provide targeted incentives for cutting-edge technology components like multi-layer, complex-material PCBs, etc.
• incentivize global component distributors to set up aggregation facilities in India so that components can be bought in India cheaply
• reduce import duties on silicon components – where there is minimal production in India at present.
• simplify export controls such as DGFT SCOMET, to make exports’ approval faster and easier for
• large volume exporters through a separate
• dedicated channel.
• increase ease-of-business in telecom product certification and approvals which delay time-to-market e.g. TEC MTCTE scheme.

Can you please share some details on Nokia’s solutions and projects under this Program?

Nokia’s facility in Chennai, set up in 2008 is one of the largest Nokia-owned manufacturing facilities in the world.

The facility with best-in-class infrastructure spread over 140,000 square meters and with a capital investment of over Rs 600 crores, manufactures and ships the complete gamut of telecom products for domestic and global markets, exporting over 50% of manufactured equipment to more than 100 countries.

The site has to date delivered close to 6 Million units for global telecom needs. This factory was the first to deploy India’s first ‘real-world’ application of Industry 4.0 including AR/VR, automation, and analytics, to enhance operational efficiency and productivity.

Nokia is one of the major investors and producers under the PLI scheme and has already exceeded its target for the first year of the program.

Manufactured items include 4G/LTE radio, 5G NR (new radio), and 5G massive MiMo products among others. From being the first to manufacture 5G NR in India to producing 5G massive MIMO products, it demonstrates our innovative manufacturing capabilities and our belief in India’s skill and talent to produce best-in-class. Nearly all 4G radios for the domestic market are manufactured locally and Nokia aims to follow the same trend for 5G radios.

We are aiming to expand our manufacturing line up to add new products - fixed network OLT and IP optics- in addition to radio products.

Upgrading our lines to the need of next-gen telecom products has been one of our key focus areas and we made substantial investments to upgrade the SMT (surface-mount technology) placement capacity up to 16 Billion components/Year along with modular robotic automation cells to create capability for future telecom equipment manufacturing

Our facility has all relevant certifications like TL 9000, ISO 27001, ISO 45001, ISO 14001, EFQM, to meet India’s and global requirements.

Is the PLI Scheme truly beneficial for Indian Make in India efforts?

The PLI scheme offers a tremendous opportunity for boosting telecom and networking manufacturing in India. With help from the PLI scheme, India’s telecom manufacturing sector can leapfrog and take its rightful place as a global manufacturing hub.

Further, the government has come up with a consultation paper to address any shortcomings in the telecom PLI and improve its utility and effectiveness.

The Nokia India Chennai manufacturing facility manufactures for both domestic and global markets. Over 50% of manufactured equipment are exported to more than 100 countries. Close to 6 Million units have been shipped globally.

The government is also mulling a range of financial physical and nonphysical incentives beyond PLI to accelerate networking and telecom equipment manufacturing.

In the recent budget, the Government announced that it will allocate around Rs 4000 crore for the PLI to boost 5G design-led manufacturing. Extending these incentives to multinational telecom vendors / OEMs with strong manufacturing and R&D facilities in India along with a reduction in the import duty on telecom components will help make the manufacturing cost-competitive and strengthen the overall manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

Further, to reap the full benefits of various initiatives mentioned and attract more investments, the focus should be laid on increasing the exports and offering greater market accessibility to players like Nokia.

Marwah is Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Nokia India

feedbackvnd@cybermedia.co.in