New Delhi, Feb 17, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, Feb 17 (IANS) India’s smartphone exports in January surged by as much as 140 per cent over the same month of the previous year, to reach a record high of Rs 25,000 crore ($3 billion) as tech giants Apple and Samsung stepped up overseas shipments from their supply chains in the country, according to industry estimates. This has taken the total exports of smartphones for the 10-month period from April-January of the current financial year to a whopping Rs 1.55 lakh crore which represents a 56 per cent increase over the corresponding figure of Rs 99,120 crore for the same period of the previous financial year. Close to 70 per cent of the exports were contributed by Apple’s iPhone supply chain with Tamil Nadu-based Foxconn, contributing around 50 per cent of the overseas shipments. Exports from the Foxconn factory registered a 43 per cent jump over the same period of the previous financial year. Around 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 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. India’s electronics goods exports, led by smartphones, have been accelerating in recent years on the back of the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme which has succeeded in attracting foreign tech giants looking to set up alternative supply chains outside China after the Communist country came under US sanctions. 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. The Production Linked Scheme (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 information tabled in Parliament. Under the special incentive scheme, cumulative production of Rs 6,62,247 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 more than five times increase in 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 4,22,000 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 1,29,074 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.