PLI scheme to drive 5G subscriptions base to 860 million in India by 2029: Report

MUMBAI — Driven by the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the 5G subscriptions base in India has crossed 130 million and is expected to reach 860 million by 2029, a report showed on Wednesday.

The subscriber base of 1.084 billion makes the Indian telecom industry the second largest in the world.

“The PLI scheme is the key catalyst in the rapid growth of India’s telecom equipment manufacturing sector,” according to the report by Prabhudas Lilladher.

A PLI scheme worth INR 12,195 crore has been initiated for the manufacturing of telecom and networking products. In addition, incentives worth more than INR 4,000 crore have been earmarked for the design-led manufacturing scheme of the existing PLI Scheme.

Telecom equipment manufacturing exports are likely to exceed INR 10,500 crore in the financial year 2025.

“PLI schemes have played a crucial role in creating over 19,500 direct jobs,” said the report.

The report also found that the average revenue per user (ARPU) of INR 208 is set to go up to INR 286 by the end of FY27 thanks to sustained growth in data consumption, tariffs, and premiumisation of existing data users to high-value packs.

India now has an overall teledensity of 85.64 per cent of which, the teledensity of the rural market, which is largely untapped, stands at 58.92 per cent (44 per cent in 2014) while the teledensity of the urban market is 134.13 per cent, it added.