Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been allocated Rs 82,916 crore from the budget announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23, 2024. The government has proposed an allocation of Rs 1.28 lakh crore for the telecom projects. Out of this, Rs 82,916 crore is earmarked for BSNL. Both BSNL and MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) combined have received an allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore. The funds will be used for technology upgradation and restructuring at BSNL.
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Out of the total allocation, Rs 17,000 crore comes from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) and will be utilised for things such as BharatNet, compensation to the Indian telecom service providers (TSPs), R&D and more. Apart from this, according to a PTI report, the budget has proposed that Rs 17,510 crore should be allocated for the benefits of the pensionary benefits of the employees of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), BSNL, and MTNL from April 1, 2014.
Further, Rs 3,668.97 crore has been proposed by the government to be used for the payment of MTNL bonds. For technology development and investment promotion, the government has made a provision of Rs 34.46 crore in the budget and Rs 70 crore for the Champion Service Sector Scheme. Another Rs 1,806.34 crore has been earmarked for the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme.
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To boost the domestic production of telecom gear in India, the government has proposed to increase the customs duty from 15% to 20% on printed circuit boards.
"To incentivise domestic manufacturing, I propose to increase the BCD (Basic Customs Duty) from 10 per cent to 15 per cent on PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) of specified telecom equipment," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
The Indian government wants local telecom manufacturing ecosystem to develop further and also is promoting R&D by Indian companies to come up with more indigenous technology.
