Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to telecom gear firms: Have 'atma vishwas'

Kant pointed out that the global supply chain is in a flux as most countries are looking at alternatives and reducing their dependence on one country

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, in a straight talk with leading and potential global telecom equipment-makers such as Ericsson and Nokia, made it clear today that Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with ASEAN countries are here to stay. Indian companies, he said, should not promote pro­tectionism but build scale and size to compete with the world.
 
Kant was responding to the demand by telecom equip­ment-makers that the govern­ment should rectify the “ano­maly" that has occurred due to India’s FTAs with Southeast Asian countries that allow them to export telecom com­ponents to India duty-free, thus obviating the need for them to