Sunday, 26 Oct, 2025
Photo courtesy: Pixabay
Smartphones now account for 67% of total electronics exports, up from 59% last year, as electronics becomes the country’s third-largest export category after engineering goods and petroleum.
The smartphone export story just hit another milestone. In May 2025, exports touched $3.09 billion, up 74 per cent from a year ago. Most of this growth came from Apple’s suppliers ramping up shipments to the US to get ahead of new tariffs. It was the second-highest monthly figure ever, just behind March’s $3.1 billion.
Combined with April’s $2.4 billion, mobile exports for the first two months of FY26 have already hit $5.5 billion, rising 41 per cent year-on-year. India is on course to beat last year’s record of $24.1 billion, which itself was a big jump from $15.6 billion in FY24 and $11.1 billion in FY23. That trajectory signals the growing role in global electronics trade.
From Import-Heavy to Make-in-India
Less than a decade ago, India imported nearly 80 per cent of its mobile phones. That changed with the Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) in 2017, followed by the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in 2020. These policies helped shift the focus to local manufacturing, reducing dependence on imports and creating jobs in assembly, logistics, and testing.
Today, more than 99 per cent of mobile phones sold in the country are made locally. In fact, smartphones have gone from near the bottom of India’s export list to one of its fastest-growing export items.
Apple’s Big Bet on India
Much of the export surge is being driven by Apple. Its manufacturing partners—Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron (now owned by Tata)—account for more than half of India’s mobile exports. Since October 2024, India has exported at least $2 billion worth of smartphones every month.
Motorola, a Lenovo-owned brand, exported 1.6 million smartphones from India in the first five months of 2025—a 60 per cent surge compared to the same period last year, according to data from Canalys.
South Korea’s Samsung, the other key exporter of smartphones from India to the US, shipped 945,000 units between January and May 2025—up from 645,000 in the same period a year earlier.
Their growing footprint has also boosted the electronics ecosystem—creating jobs and attracting component suppliers across the value chain, from printed circuit boards to batteries and connectors.
Electronics: Fastest-Growing Export Sector
Smartphones now make up 67 per cent of the country’s total electronics exports, up from 59 per cent last year. Electronics overall is the third-largest export category, behind engineering goods and petroleum. In April and May combined, electronics exports rose 47 per cent to $8.26 billion—the fastest among major sectors.
The PLI scheme has played a central role, offering 4–6 per cent incentives on incremental sales. It attracted global players like Apple and Samsung, along with Indian firms like Lava and Dixon. While PLI was rolled out across 14 other sectors, including semiconductors and white goods, the smartphone scheme is widely regarded as the most successful. According to government officials, Apple alone now accounts for more than 50 per cent of India’s mobile exports.
The China–Vietnam Benchmark
Despite the progress, India still lags behind China and Vietnam, which have spent years building efficient, export-oriented electronics hubs. Lower logistics costs, stronger supply chains, and tax advantages keep them ahead.
India’s challenge now is to move up the value chain—from assembling phones to making key components like circuit boards, camera modules, and chipsets. Most of these are still imported, keeping production costs high.
India has made major strides in smartphone exports, but the next phase is harder. Building a deeper, local supply chain is essential to sustain momentum—and truly compete with China and Vietnam. The foundation is in place. What comes next will define whether New Delhi stays a low-cost assembly hub—or becomes a global electronics powerhouse.
