Kolkata: A top level telecom department (DoT) team will participate in a global convention next month in Israel to showcase India as a world-class networks gear manufacturing hub amid mounting concerns in the US and Europe about India's local sourcing and screening rules.
The DoT's decision comes after the foreign ministry recently exhorted telecom secretary M F Farooqui to expedite steps to showcase India's telecom gear manufacturing abilities and policies in key markets like Israel, in a bid to boost bilateral trade.
"There isn't much awareness in Israel about India's capabilities in high-tech sectors, its qualified manpower or its telecom industry's ability to manufacture at a commercially scalable level," wrote India's ambassador to Israel, Jaideep Sarkar, in a recent letter to Farooqui seen by ET.
Sarkar added that "DoT needed to project India's abilities and the upcoming three-day convention in Tel Aviv was an excellent opportunity to steer the country's bilateral economic partnership with Israel."
But industry circles familiar with matters said that DoT could face some tough questions at the Tel Aviv event amid US and Europe's mounting concerns about India's local sourcing rules and its decision to locally screen imported network gear from July 1 despite it having been cleared by globally certified labs.
Leading US trade lobbies have warned that such double testing could hold up critical telecom gear supplies and also increase cost of telecom services in India, post July.
The government's technology research arm Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT) along with Telecom Consultants India Ltd, Micromax Informatics Ltd and Telecom Centres of Excellence, India (TCOE) will also participate in the three-day telecom covention in Israel, starting May 20.
A related government note indicates the DoT delegation will interact with top Israeli developers of IT and telecom security products at the convention. Senior C-DoT executives are also likely to explore R&D partnerships with Israel-based companies involved in telecom R&D.
The upcoming developments come at a time when India is working with Israel's cyber intelligence solutions provider, Verint Systems to address cyber security concerns.
Communications minister Kapil Sibal had recently said Verint was keen to work with the Indian government to address the issue of intercepting encrypted communications like Gmail, Yahoo.mail to Skype among others.
Indications are that senior Verint executives will be present at the Tel Aviv event.
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