NEW DELHI — India’s smartphone exports crossed a staggering Rs 1.75 lakh crore
($21 billion) in 11 months of FY2024-25 (April-February) which constitutes a 54
per cent jump over the corresponding figure for the same period of FY2023-24,
according to latest industry data.
Minister for Electronics and Information Technology
(MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw has stated that he expects smartphone exports to reach
$20 billion (Rs 1.68 lakh crore,) during 2024-25, but the estimate has already
been exceeded in 11 months of the current financial year, as per data from the
India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).
India’s electronics goods exports, led by smartphones,
have been accelerating in recent years on the back of government’s
production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme which has succeeded in attracting
foreign tech giants such as Apple and its suppliers, looking to set up
alternative supply chains outside China after the Communist country came under US
sanctions.
The PLI scheme has boosted exports and reduced imports,
as domestic production now meets 99 per cent of domestic demand.
Around 70 per cent of the exports were contributed by
Apple’s iPhone supply chain with Tamil Nadu-based Foxconn plant, accounting for
close to 50 per cent of the overseas shipments. Exports from the Foxconn
factory registered an over 40 per cent jump over the same period of the
previous financial year.
Another 22 per cent of the exports came from iPhone
vendor Tata Electronics, which has acquired the Wistron smartphone
manufacturing factory in Karnataka. Another 12 per cent of the export
consignments came from the Pegatron facility in Tamil Nadu in which Tata
Electronics acquired a 60 per cent stake towards January-end. With the
acquisition of the two Taiwanese companies, the Tata group has also emerged as
a major producer of iPhones in the country.
South Korean tech giant Samsung contributed around 20 per
cent of the total smartphone exports from India.
The PLI for electronics manufacturing has succeeded in
attracting a cumulative investment to the tune of Rs 10,213 crore till December
2024, leading to the creation of over 1.37 lakh direct jobs and boosting the
country's exports, according to latest information tabled in the Parliament.
Under the special incentive scheme, cumulative production
of Rs 662,247 crore has been achieved.
"Due to the policies of the government for promotion
of electronics manufacturing, India has become a mobile phone exporter now from
a mobile importing country in 2014- 15," Union Minister of State for
electronics and IT, Jitin Prasada, informed Parliament recently.
Driven by the PLI scheme, the production of mobile phones
has increased from about 60 million mobile phones in 2014-15 to about 330
million mobile phones in 2023-24. This is a more than 5 times increase in the
number of mobile phones manufactured over the last 10 years.
In value terms, the production of mobile phones has
increased from a mere Rs 19,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 422,000 crore in 2023-24
growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41 per cent.
Since the inception of the PLI Scheme for Large Scale
Electronics Manufacturing, mobile phone exports have increased from Rs 22,868
crore in 2020-21 to Rs 129,074 crore in 2023-24 growing at a CAGR of 78 per
cent.
Further, whereas in 2015, 74 per cent of all mobile
phones sold in India were imported, India has now reached a point where 99.2
per cent of the mobile handsets being used in India are made in India.
