Telecom Industry in India

India plans to manufacture mobile phones worth US$ 126 billion by 2025-26.

Advantage India

Robust
Demand

* In India, the total telephone subscriber base stood at 1,188.20 million as on 31st October 2024. ​

* Tele-density of rural subscribers reached 58.39% as of October 2024 ​

* Total volume of wireless data usage increased by more than 10 folds from 4,206 petabytes in Q1, FY18 to 47,629 petabytes in Q2, FY24.​

* Also, India is one of the biggest consumer of data worldwide. As per TRAI, average wireless data usage per wireless data subscriber was 19.47 GB per month in December 2023 from 61.66 MB in March 2014.​

Attractive
Opportunities

* India's 5G subscriptions to have 350 million by 2026, accounting for 27% of all mobile subscriptions.​

* The value of export of mobile phones in FY24 increased by 42% reaching at US$ 15.6 billion. ​

* India’s digital economy is set to reach 20% of national income by 2029-30, driven by IT, telecom, and electronics manufacturing, with a 13.42% share expected in FY25.​

* India ranks 2nd in "international mobile broadband internet traffic" and "international Internet bandwidth."​

Policy
Support

* The Union Cabinet approved Rs. 12,195 crore (US$ 1.65 billion) Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom & networking products under the Department of Telecom. On December 2022, 42 companies have committed an investment Rs. 4,115 crore (US$ 502.95 million) comprising 28 MSMEs and 14 Non-MSMEs (eight domestic and seven global companies) approved under the PLI Scheme.

* To drive the development of 6G technology, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has developed a sixth-generation (6G) innovation group. ​

Increasing
Investments

* In the Union Budget 2025-26 the Department of Telecommunications and IT was allocated Rs. 81,005.24 crore (US$ 9.27 billion). ​

* FDI inflow in the telecom sector stood at Rs. 2,40,439 crore (US$ 39.99 billion) between April 2000 - September 2024.​

* India ranks third in "Annual investment in telecommunication services" and "Domestic market size.“​

Last updated: Apr, 2025

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