Atul Lall on what PLI in telecom sector will mean for Dixon

From year two, from the anchor deal with Bharti Airtel, there should be revenue in the range of Rs 1,500-1,700 crore year on year. It is going to have a CAGR of more than 25% to 30%, says Atul Lall, MD, Dixon Tech.

Government has approved the PLI proposition in telecom space. How important or how meaningfully potent is this particular move from the government and how is Dixon looking at opportunities here?
It is an extremely important step for the telecom industry. It is an important step towards Atmanirbharta (self-reliance) and I am very sure that for the industry, for the country and for Dixon. In Dixon’s case, the CP would be manufacturing. We are looking at this particular move in an extremely positive way. Our joint venture with Airtel as an anchor customer is in its final stages. Today we got their approval letter. Hopefully, within a quarter or so, the manufacturing for CP telecom products -- mainly routers, modems, GPONs -- is going to start.

Bharti is an anchor client for you. How have you worked at your numbers internally or ballpark whatever is convenient to you? Three-five years down, how big an opportunity can this be for Dixon Tech?
From year two, we should be somewhere in the range of Rs 1,500-1,700 crore of revenue and year on year, it is going to have a CAGR of more than 25% to 30%. A very interesting bit is that we are getting a lot of export traction in this particular sector. We are aspiring to have a turnover of almost Rs 1,500 crore in year two of this operation in 22-23.

If we want to get the industry picture, how much equipment were we importing and when it starts reversing, what kind of ballpark numbers are we talking about for this space?
It is a large canvas, it is a domain. For me to share the industry numbers at this stage will be a challenge. I personally feel that for Dixon, the revenues for the domestic market in two to three years would be somewhere in the range of around Rs 2,500-3,000 crore and another Rs 1,000 crore is going to come from the global markets.