The Silicon Review ^Asia

Chinese network equipment vendors, already limited in some major Western markets, could now face similar problems in India.The country's government has authorized the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to ban any international telecom equipment company from engaging in government projects.

The rule of clause 10(d) of the 2017 Order on Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) can still be used against every nation that does not enable "Indian distributors to engage and/or keep pace in procurement of telecommunications equipment," a letter recently sent by the DoT to all central and state departments says. It means the DoT can now impose restrictions on companies from a given country that want to compete for contracts from the Indian government.

While it does not specifically mention Chinese vendors, the policy directive has been widely interpreted as a retaliatory step against China, which is seen as restricting the role of foreign vendors in its own market, and now threatens a spate of trade between the two Asian nations. European vendors such as Ericsson and Nokia are long thought to have failed in China as a result of a scheme critics say they're skewed for domestic companies.India's government seems to think that Indian companies like Tejas and Sterlite, both of which are trying to establish themselves abroad, may have missed out as well.

Indian authorities ' latest move could deliver a blow to Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, who have been reported to be actively vying for projects under Indian government.