Mobile phone manufacturing in value terms jumped 21-fold to ₹4.1 lakh crore in India in the last 10 years as government policy measures like the PLI scheme played a critical role in attracting global players to boost local production, industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) said in a statement.
India now produces 97% of its total mobile phone demand locally and 30% of the total production in the financial year 2024 is meant for export, it said.
"Mobile phone production surged from ₹18,900 crore in 2014-15 to an estimated ₹4,10,000 crore in FY24, registering an increase of 2,000%. In 2014-15, mobile phone exports from India were a mere ₹1,556 crore. The industry expects to end FY24 with an estimated export ₹Rs 1,20,000 crore. This would mean a 7,500% increase in exports over a decade," ICEA said.
According to a note on manufacturing, in the field of smartphones, Apple and Samsung, have played a crucial role in boosting mobile phone exports from the country.
Devices manufactured in India are exported to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, and Italy, the note said, adding that these devices were exported to West Asia, North Africa and South American markets.
"30% of production in FY24 will now be meant for exports. The industry expects to end FY24 with an estimated export of ₹1.2 lakh crore. Driven by this export growth, mobile phones have now become India's fifth largest export as an individual commodity," the industry body said.
Promoting domestic manufacturing
In May 2017, the Indian government announced the Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) to promote the domestic production of mobile handsets. This initiative helped build a robust indigenous mobile manufacturing ecosystem in India and incentivized large-scale manufacturing. From just two mobile phone factories in 2014, India now has become the second-largest mobile phone producer in the world.
Also read: Pushing India to surpass China in mobile manufacturing: Ravi Shankar Prasad
The Production Linked Incentive scheme for Large-Scale Electronics Manufacturing (LSEM) and for IT hardware has played an instrumental role in making India a competitive destination for electronics manufacturing.
The PLI scheme offers incentives ranging from 3-5% of the incremental sales value for a stipulated period to eligible players. It has attracted leading global contract manufacturers, including Foxconn, Pegatron, Rising Star and Wistron to set up a production base in India. Samsung on the other hand, operates its second-largest mobile phone factory in Noida.
"This exponential growth in production, exports and self-sufficiency stems from a conducive policy environment, and a close working relationship between industry and key Government Ministries such as the Ministry of Electronics and IT, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, NITI Aayog and the PMO," ICEA said.
