India surpasses Rs 85,000 cr worth mobile phone exports in FY23

The government push towards local manufacturing of consumer electronics items has helped India cross record more than Rs 85,000 crore in mobile exports in the fiscal year ending March 31, industry data showed on Saturday. Buoyed by attractive government incentives towards local manufacturing, India surpassed a remarkable $10 billion worth smartphone exports in the fiscal year 2022-2023, according to the data provided by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) to IANS. Smartphone exports from India have doubled from a corresponding period from the last fiscal year, driven by production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. The top five global destinations India currently exports mobile phones to are the UAE, the US, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy, according to the ICEA data. “The mobile phone industry will cross $40 billion manufacturing output and 25 per cent exports at $10 billion is a stellar performance,” Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of ICEA, had earlier told IANS. More than 97 per cent of the smartphones sold in India are now being produced locally. India is now the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. According to Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the year 2023 will be a milestone as the country will cross Rs 1 lakh crore in mobile phone exports this year. India is likely to produce 45-50 per cent of Apple’s iPhones by 2027, at par with China, where 80-85 per cent of iPhones were produced in 2022. According to estimates, India and Vietnam are to become the biggest beneficiaries of smartphone supply chain migration out of China. India accounted for 10-15 per cent of iPhones’ overall production capacity at the end of 2022. Apple became the first smartphone player in India to have exported $1 billion worth iPhones in the month of December. It currently manufactures iPhones 12, 13, 14 and 14 Plus in the country.