Mumbai, Feb 18: India’s merchandise exports dipped by 2.38 per cent to USD 36.43 billion in January against USD 37.32 billion a year ago, according to government data released on Monday.Imports increased by 10.28 per cent to USD 59.42 billion last month compared to USD 53.88 billion in January 2024.
The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, stood at USD 22.99 billion during the month under review.
During April-January period this fiscal, exports increased by 1.39 per cent to USD 358.91 billion and imports by 7.43 per cent to USD 601.9 billion.
Meanwhile, India’s smartphone exports in January surged by as much as 140 per cent over the same month of the previous year, to reach a record high of Rs 25,000 crore ($3 billion) as tech giants Apple and Samsung stepped up overseas shipments from their supply chains in the country, according to industry estimates.
This has taken the total exports of smartphones for the 10-month period from April-January of the current financial year to a whopping Rs 1.55 lakh crore which represents a 56 per cent increase over the corresponding figure of Rs 99,120 crore for the same period of the previous financial year.
Close to 70 per cent of the exports were contributed by Apple’s iPhone supply chain with Tamil Nadu-based Foxconn, contributing around 50 per cent of the overseas shipments. Exports from the Foxconn factory registered a 43 per cent jump over the same period of the previous financial year.
Around 22 per cent of the exports came from iPhone vendor Tata Electronics, which has acquired the Wistron smartphone manufacturing factory in Karnataka. Another 12 per cent of the export consignments came from the Pegatron facility in Tamil Nadu in which Tata Electronics acquired a 60 per cent stake towards January-end. With the acquisition of the two Taiwanese companies, the Tata group has emerged as a major producer of iPhones in the country.
South Korean tech giant Samsung contributed around 20 per cent of the total smartphone exports from India.
India’s electronics goods exports, led by smartphones, have been accelerating in recent years on the back of the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme which has succeeded in attracting foreign tech giants looking to set up alternative supply chains outside China after the Communist country came under US sanctions.
Minister for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw has stated that he expects smartphone exports to reach $20 billion (Rs 1.68 lakh crore,) during 2024-25.
The Production Linked Scheme (PLI) for electronics manufacturing has succeeded in attracting a cumulative investment to the tune of Rs 10,213 crore till December 2024 leading to the creation of over 1.37 lakh direct jobs and boosting the country’s exports, according to information tabled in Parliament.