Electronics surge to third-largest export segment in FY25, surpassing pharma and gems & jewellery

By: Shantanu Bhattacharji

Apple plays a dominant role in electronics export surge, with iPhone shipments alone reaching Rs 1.5 lakh crore in FY2024-25, nearly 46% of total exports.

India’s electronics sector has delivered a robust signal: it is no longer a fringe player in the country’s export portfolio. In FY2024-25, electronics exports surged to Rs 3.27 lakh crore ($38.6 billion), a record high that vaulted the segment to third place—overtaking heavyweights such as pharmaceuticals and gems and jewellery. Notably this marks a huge 36 per cent jump from the previous year, powered overwhelmingly by mobile phone shipments, which alone contributed over Rs 2 lakh crore.

What makes this rise more compelling is the pace. Just five years ago, when the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme was introduced, electronics ranked seventh. Today, it is the fastest-growing sector among the country’s top 10 exports, with mobile devices accounting for a staggering 85 per cent of the incremental growth.

This momentum is no accident. It reflects a decade of industrial recalibration, targeted incentives, and a growing alignment with global supply chains. But success, while worth celebrating, should not breed complacency.

Experts are of the view that the Rs 500 billion export target by 2030, set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is within sight—but only if the government is willing to confront the structural bottlenecks still holding the sector back. Tariff complexity, uneven infrastructure, and policy unpredictability remain hurdles. Without deeper reforms in taxation, trade facilitation, and logistics, the export engine risks stalling just as it finds its rhythm.

India has shown that with strategic intent and policy nudges, it can punch above its weight in global manufacturing. Now it must prove it can stay there—through consistency, competitiveness, and the courage to think beyond incentives.

Worth mentioning here is that India may be assembling and exporting smartphones at record pace, but the core technology—the chips that power them—still comes from abroad. This disconnects highlight critical vulnerability: while the devices bear a “Made in India” label, the intelligence inside remains imported.

Vietnam’s trajectory offers a telling comparison. With electronics exports hitting $114 billion in 2023, its success is anchored not just in low-cost assembly, but in a coherent industrial ecosystem, strong foreign investment from South Korea and Japan, and disciplined policy continuity.

For India, the lesson is clear: scale without integration offers diminishing returns. To move up the value chain, it must urgently accelerate its semiconductor roadmap—by de-risking capital investment and nurturing skilled talent.

A closer look at the electronics export surge reveals just how dominant a role Apple plays. iPhone shipments alone accounted for Rs 1.5 lakh crore in FY2024-25—nearly 46 per cent of the country’s total electronics exports. While impressive, such concentration underscores how reliant the sector has become on a single global brand.

The government, for its part, is highlighting the broader gains. Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw notes that domestic manufacturing has increased fivefold over the past decade, with exports rising sixfold and 2.5 million new jobs created. Much of this success is tied to the smartphone-focused Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, launched in 2021 and currently in its final year. Firms like Dixon Technologies are already calling for an extension.

In 2017, the government’s Phased Manufacturing Programme, followed by the smartphone PLI scheme, played a pivotal role in shifting the smartphone industry from being 78 per cent import-dependent in FY2014-15 to achieving near self-sufficiency by 2022.