New Delhi, Mar 17, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) 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.