According to a report by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s local manufacturing of electronics is widening each year with more and more components being made in the country, leading to a sharp fall in imports of mechanics, vibrator motors, charger adapters, plastic parts, and other parts by value and volume.
Imports of completely boxed units of electronics such as smartphones slumped 40 per cent during April to January financial year 2023-2024 (FY24).
Local manufacturing of electronics, especially smartphones, rose 5 per cent on year in 2023, driven by government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, with more manufacturers procuring components that have a large impact on bill of materials (BoM) from local producers.
Imports of plastic parts, which include back cover, global system of mobile communications (GSM) antenna and camera lens of smartphones, were down 33 per cent by volume to 11,305.93 kg in first 10 months of FY24 from 17,037.16 kg in FY23. In value, imports fell 26.5 per cent during this period.
Similarly, imports of mechanical parts, which include vibrator motors, screws, and sockets, were down 4 per cent by volume and 1.6 per cent by value.
Both categories of components saw a reduction in import duty from 15 per cent to 10 per cent in interim budget presented by the government, in a bid to make local manufacturing more competitive as compared to other nations.
Imports of charger adapters that accompany mobile phones and other electronic devices saw a sharp 72 per cent fall in volumes in the April to January 2024 period, as compared to FY23, but saw a slight 1.3 per cent on year increase in import value in the same period.
Imports of camera modules, which accounts for around 10 per cent of the BoM, increased 2.3 per cent by volume but fell 5.3 per cent in value, while battery packs that account for 6 per cent of the BoM increased 12 per cent by volume and fell 13 per cent by value.
The data also showed a sharp 200 per cent rise in display assembly imports, which could be a misnomer as harmonised system nomenclature (HSN) code for traded items was revised for the category in 2023.
Semiconductor imports rose by 0.5 per cent in volume and by 20 per cent in value to $12,255 million in FY24 (April-January), which market trackers said is due to import of high-end semiconductors for premium electronic goods and rising wafer costs due to high demand.
In the April to December 2023 period, India’s electronics exports grew a record 22.24 per cent to cross $20-billion mark within the first nine months, driven by booming smartphone exports by Apple and Samsung. iPhones accounted for $7 billion worth of exports in December 2023, which was 35 per cent of total electronics exports.
