New Delhi, Sep 25 : The Government on Tuesday claimed that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in telecom sector has grown nearly five times in the past three years – from 1.3 billion dollars in 2015-16 to 6.2 billion dollars in 2017-18.
Inaugurating a seminar on “FDI in Telecom Sector: The Way Ahead” here, Union Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said India needs massive investment in developing newer technologies which are accessible and affordable to the people and at the same time creates productive employment.
For India to utilise its demographic dividend it is absolutely necessary to create semi-skilled jobs in short run, and the telecom sector will play an important role in creating those employment opportunities, he added.
Mr Sinha said, “As we move from telecom India to digital India, it is pertinent to mention that the draft National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 aims to attract investment of about Rs 6.5 lakh crore in the Digital Communications Sector. India has also announced plans to launch commercial 5G networks by the year 2020 and this provides a big opportunity for investing in the newer emerging technologies like 5G, AI, IoT and Data analytics.”
The Minister added that the telecom sector in India has witnessed some upheaval in last 2-3 years. There were many mergers and acquisitions and a couple of unfortunate insolvency proceedings. However, consolidation in the sector will strengthen it as the worst is behind them.
“Indian economy is back on the growth trajectory and the second quarter of 2018, GDP showed a promising growth at 8.2 per cent, and India is poised to become third largest economy in the world over the next two decades. Therefore, the Investors/Telecom operators across the world are invited to be part of the growth story of India Telecom through Foreign Direct Investments,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan emphasised the fact the foreign investment is necessary not only to supplement domestic capital but also to secure scientific, technical and industrial knowledge. She also pointed out that telecom sector has always been one of the core sectors attracting highest FDI inflows and this overall this trend has been positive for the past two decades.
On the occasion, Mr Sinha also released a publication titled “Telecom Sector Growth & FDI: A Way Ahead”, which is a compilation of put together by FIPP Wing of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT). The compendium attempts to provide relevant information relating to the FDI policy and the telecommunications sector in India at one place to facilitate the stakeholders.
UNI.
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