According to a report by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), India will export around 30 per cent of its total smartphone production in the fiscal year 2024 (FY24). The report states that out of all the smartphones sold in India, 97 per cent were made locally within the country.
As per the report, during the 2014-2024 period, the sector achieved Rs 20 trillion cumulative smartphone production against a target. In terms of volume, India produced 2.45 billion units of mobile phones during this ten-year period, against a target of 2.5 billion units.
On the export front, ICEA said that mobile phones have become India’s fifth largest export as an individual commodity. The report finds that in 2014-15, mobile phone exports from India were valued at around Rs 15.56 billion. The industry expects to end FY24 with an estimated export of Rs 1.2 trillion. This would mean a 7,500 per cent increase in exports over a decade. According to ICEA, the introduction of the production linked incentives (PLI) in 2020 has been a game-changer for the industry.
According to Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman, ICEA, the doubling of India’s GDP from the current $3.7 trillion to $7 trillion by 2030 will be led by growth in the digital sector and trade. In both these areas, electronics manufacturing led by mobile production will play a critical role. Mohindroo added that as a next step, the country must ensure that it can shift electronics global value chains (GVCs) to India to create large-scale manufacturing jobs and increase domestic value addition. This, in turn, requires unprecedented competitiveness and factories that can operate at a scale of the kind that has never been witnessed in India.
