Restrictions on Chinese imports hurting equipment vendors working in India

Vendors have requested a relaxation on imports from China so that domestic telecom operators can roll out upgraded networks faster.

With 5G deployment around the corner, telecom equipment vendors are finding themselves in a catch-22 situation. Since the Indo-Sino clash on the Galwan border in 2020, cross-border trade with China has been severely restricted.

Multinational vendors such as Hewlett Packard, Nokia, Ericsson and Cisco want to source network gear and related components from their Chinese factories to speed up deployment, but are unable to do so on account of the embargo.

What is the situation?

Chinese kit makers like ZTE and Huawei are facing a shadow ban by all telecom operators. This is now impacting vendors who are not based in China.

US-based Cisco and Europe-based Nokia and Ericsson have a third-party manufacturing setup in India contracted through Jabil under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

However, they also rely on importing some components from China.

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