New Delhi, May 23 -- An ambitious scheme to boost local telecom manufacturing is still far from its target, four years after the government set aside Rs.12,000 crore to get companies to build everything from network gear to set-top boxes. While beneficiaries of the scheme have sold goods worth over Rs.80,000 crore during the period, incentive claims are still a fraction of the originalallocation.

Top manufacturers such Samsung, HFCL Ltd, Netweb Technologies, Kaynes International, Optiemus unit GDN Enterprises and state-owned ITI Ltd have not claimed any incentives yet, as they either failed to start manufacturing or were unable to meet targets. The result: only a tenth of the incentives have been claimed by manufacturers so far.

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