Key amendments proposed in Finance Bill 2023 in respect of telecom sector

On Wednesday, 1 February 2023, the Hon'ble Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, presented Union Budget 2023 in the Lok Sabha.

We bring you the key amendments proposed in Finance Bill 2023 in respect of telecommunications sector.

The Union Finance Minister while presenting the last full-fledged Budget 2023 of Modi Government before the Parliament has laid down seven priorities during Amrit Kaal. Looking at all these priorities, one thing can be said as the common enabler – Technology. 

The telecom sector being the backbone of innovations and new age technologies was eyeing this ‘Budget’ with optimism. The Prime Minster, while launching 5G earlier this year, called it a big step towards the vision of Viksit Bharat. The Finance Minister in this direction announced the set-up of 100 labs for developing applications using 5G services. The idea is to leverage 5G technology to develop applications such as smart classrooms, precision farming, intelligent transport systems and health care. This evident the intent of the Government to promote 5G use cases and thus shall open the world of opportunities for telecom sector.

In addition to the above, the Government in line with its Make in India initiative has granted relief in custom duty on import of certain parts and inputs for manufacturing of mobile phones. Further, certain changes have also been proposed in the tariff schedule to increase the duty rates on certain items such as specific type of modems, multiplexers etc.

Though, the request for addressing the liquidity crunch of this capital-intensive sector has remain unaddressed, nonetheless the launch of 5G has the capability to unleash new opportunities and avenues to look forward for the telecom sector.