"INDIA REQUIRES BOLD CHANGES TO CATCH UP WITH CHINA"

India must focus on improving the quality standards and certification processes for domestically manufactured components.

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TANMAY BATABYAL

Head - Marketing, Niral Networks

How does India compare to other countries in terms of the indigenisation of products and driving local manufacturing in the digital infrastructure space?

India's efforts and local manufacturing in the digital infrastructure space have been significant in recent years. The government's Make toward toward indigenisation in India initiative aims to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on imports in various sectors, including digital infrastructure. However, India still has a long way to go in terms of indigenisation and local manufacturing in the digital infrastructure space. Countries like China and South Korea have established themselves as leading manufacturers in the sector, and their companies dominate the global market.

What about the country's recent push towards becoming self-reliant in hardware manufacturing, especially in the telecom sector?

India's efforts toward becoming self-reliant in communications and connectivity equipment and devices are aimed at reducing the country's dependence on imports, creating local employment opportunities, and boosting the growth of the manufacturing sector.

The government has introduced various policies and initiatives to promote domestic manufacturing. The Production-linked Incentive or PLI scheme for the telecom and networking equipment sector was introduced in 2020 to incentivise domestic production of telecom and networking products.