Sanjay Singh / New Delhi
Union Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha today said Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the telecom sector has jumped nearly five times in the last 3 years, from $1.3 Billion (Rs 9469.2 crore) in 2015-16 to $ 6.2 Billion (Rs 45,160.8 crore) in 2017-18.
Inaugurating a seminar here in the national capital titled “FDI in Telecom Sector: The Way Ahead”, the minster pointed out that 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 utilize 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 explained.
Sinha further stated that as India’s telecom sector moves to digital India, it is pertinent to mention that the draft National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 aims to attract investment of $100 billion (Rs 7.28 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, Data analytics amongst others.
The Minister said that telecom sector in India has undergone massive changes in past three 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 us. The government has taken corrective steps during this period to promote the ease of doing business, particularly in the telecom sector,” the minister added.
To mitigate stress in telecom sector, an Inter-Ministerial Group was established and most of their recommendations have been accepted and are under various stages of implementation, he further asserted.
Sinha also stated that the Indian economy is back on the growth trajectory and during the second quarter of 2018, GDP showed a growth of 8.2%, and as a result India is poised to become third largest economy in the world over the next two decades. Therefore, there is ample growth in India for investors and telecom operators globally. “We invite them to be part of the growth story of India’s telecom through FDI investments,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms Aruna Sundararajan, Telecom Secretary emphasized 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.
She further stated that National Digital Communications Policy, 2018, will be the new platform for convergence of all the stakeholders, where we will be working with growth oriented investment perspective, rather than with fiscal perspective alone.