NEW DELHI: India's finance minister said on Tuesday the country will auction 5G airwaves this year to facilitate a roll out of the next-generation telecoms service in 2022-23.

New Delhi will also launch a scheme for design-led manufacturing to boost 5G in the country, Nirmala Sitharaman said in a speech in parliament as she unveiled the budget for fiscal 2022-23.

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Kim Coghill) ((sankalp.phartiyal@thomsonreuters.com; +91-11-49548064;))