The Indian government will reportedly allocate 100 billion rupees ($1.62 billion) to promote domestic manufacturing of telecom equipment, and 90 billion will be reserved for local vendors.
The Department of Telecom has approved the funding injection, the Economic Timesreported, citing an internal memo.
Up to 60 billion rupees will be allocated for subsidies to help domestic manufacturers access working capital and be able to offer vendor financing to operators at competitive rates.
Around 1 billion rupees will be put aside as an incentive for local operators to buy products made in India from local manufacturers.
The Indian government has been attempting to shore up its telecom manufacturing sector in the face of the nation's slowing economic growth.
The government had been planning to mandate that local operators source at least 30% of key telecom equipment locally, but decided to re-evaluate this policy due to concerns it was in violation of local trade pacts.
The note seen by the Economic Times mentions that a key factor impeding the local telecom gear market is that there is no incentive for operators to buy locally manufactured gear, and that the shortage of available long-term financing is compounding the problem.