Telecom sector to create 30 lakh jobs by 2018: Study

With the gaining popularity of smartphones in the last four years in India, and a robust growth being predicted in the handset market, job opportunities in the telecom sector is likely to increase by 30 lakh in 2018, according to an ASSOCHAN-KPMG joint study.

Indian handset market recorded over 350 million shipments in the year 2017 as compared to 280 million in 2016, a surge in revenue from Rs 111,000 crores in 2015 to Rs 135,000 crore in 2016, according to the joint study.

It said the existing manpower in the sector may not be adequate both in number as well as in skill to cater to the upcoming demand. 

Emerging technologies such as 5G, M2M and the evolution of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are expected to create employment avenues for almost 8,70,000 individuals by 2021, revealed the Study. 

"There is a need to bridge the gap in skill which on the one hand would require identification of skilled manpower in diverse roles such as infra and cyber security experts, application developers, sales executives, infrastructure technicians, handset technicians etc. as well as on the other hand re-skilling of existing manpower working on existing technologies for them to be updated with upcoming requirements." 

In order to revive the industry, it is imperative to boost handset manufacturing in India. The FTTF, set up in 2014 has a target of increasing count of handsets manufactured in India to 500 million and handset exports to 120 million by 2020. Further, ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, and other initiatives taken by the government played a pivotal role to achieve an 85 per cent growth in handset manufacturing recorded in the year 2015-16 (Rs 54,000 crores) over the previous year, which in 2016-17 grew to Rs 90,000 crores.

Currently, the only export incentive available to handset manufacturers is a 2% incentive under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) introduced in the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20. The industry is of the view that the government may increase the MEIS incentive and introduce new incentives such as freight equalization subsidy and to enhance duty draw back to 3% to attract more players in the market and to encourage the existing players to ramp up manufacturing which would also create more jobs in India.

A wider penetration of feature phones and smart phones would facilitate seamless application of upcoming technologies such as 5G, M2M, Internet of Things (IoT), etc. and also enable the government in achieving targets that it set under the flagship ‘Digital India’ initiative, adds the study.

The Telecom Sector Skill Council has been set up to cater to the demands and skill needs of the telecom sector. 

However, the industry recommended more targeted and specialised skill development programmes that would enhance existing manpower capabilities and availability to ensure uninterrupted development of the sector as a whole.