Wednesday, 09 Oct, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
According to the ratings agency Crisil, mobile manufacturing will be an Rs 3.5-4 trillion industry by 2024. Image Source: IANS
The iPhone 12, 13, 14, and 14+ models are produced and exported by Apple from India via its three contract manufacturers, Foxconn Hon Hai, Pegatron, and Wistron.
Apple has become the first company to export phones worth $1 billion (Rs 8,100 crore) in a month from India, reaching the milestone in December 2022. According to the report, mobile phone exports in December set a new high for the industry at over 10,000 crore. The mobile market in India is dominated by Apple and Samsung. The iPhone 12, 13, 14, and 14+ models are produced and exported by Apple from India via its three contract manufacturers, Foxconn Hon Hai, Pegatron, and Wistron. Along with the three manufacturers, several of the smaller Indian exporting businesses are also said to be shipping iPhones abroad. India is expected to export mobile phones worth $9 billion in FY23, up from $5.8 billion in FY22, according to government forecasts.
To promote the nation as a major hub for manufacturing, the Central Government has introduced the production linked incentive (PLI) programme, which would provide industrial units with billions of dollars in financial support. The mobile manufacturing sector was the first one targeted under the PLI scheme. And it has shown resounding success. Under this initiative, the country produced mobile phones worth Rs 5,277 crore in FY22, more than double from Rs 2,334 crore in FY21. Thanks to the massive production, there was also a drop in the import of mobile phones at ₹600 crore during the first quarter, while it was as high as ₹3,100 crore during the same period in FY21.
This also helped reduce New Delhi’s dependence on Chinese imports reduced to 60 percent from 64 percent in fiscal 2021, and is expected to fall further in the medium term. According to the ratings agency Crisil, mobile manufacturing will be an Rs 3.5-4 trillion industry by 2024. According to a recent report by Deloitte, the demand for smartphones in India is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6 percent, from 300 million in 2021 to around 400 million in 2026.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, said in a reply to Parliament, “Due to the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, India is currently one of the fastest-growing mobile phone manufacturers in the world and has emerged as the second-largest manufacturer of mobile handsets in the world in volume terms”.
According to a recent report by Deloitte, the demand for smartphones in India is predicted to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6 Percent, from 300 million in 2021 to around 400 million in 2026. The export shipments of iPhones manufactured in India, primarily to Europe and the Middle East, are expected to reach US$ 2.5 billion in the 12 months leading up to March 2023, nearly doubling from the year leading up to March 2022. Not only have smartphone exports increased significantly in FY23, but so have exports of electronics. Between April and December 2022, total exports of electronics products reached USD 16.67 billion, up 51.56 percent over the same period the year before, according to the Department of Commerce.
Though India has achieved a great milestone in mobile manufacturing and export, it is still far behind than China. According to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates, about 3 million iphones were made in India last year, compared 230 million in China.
