Telecom manufacturers slam Booz & Co report on Indian telecom manufacturing

The Telecom Equipment Manufacturer's Association (TEMA) of India has refuted a study by Booz & Co and alleged it is an attempt to polarise and paralyse India government's efforts to incentivise local innovation and manufacturing of communications equipment.

"The report of Booz & Co is based on surmise and conjecture, completely ignoring the growth potential of the domestic manufacturing in India, to which government of India is committed," Ashok K. Aggarwal, director general, TEMA, said in a letter to telecom minister Kapil Sibal.

Aggarwal said in his letter, "This report in a way takes this great country back to the post-industrial revolution and British Raj in India, wherein local industry was systematically eroded in order to promote the British industries. During that time, few Indian businesses supported export of indigo and cotton and import of clothes spun by factories in Lancashire and salt import from UK."

The study by Booz & Co was sponsored by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

According to TEMA, contrary to the government of India's thought process, the report seems to conclude that there is not much scope for the Indian telecom equipment manufactures in the current world scenario.

The report says, "India will account for only 3 per cent of the global market by 2020, therefore self-reliance is not a viable tool to drive the globally competitive economies of scale".