India set to export mobile phones worth $9 billion in FY23: Report

On the back of higher production and more shipments, India will export mobile phones worth $9 billion in the current financial year (FY23). This will be a significant jump from $5.8 billion in FY22, a report in the Economic Times (ET) said.

According to data from industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), total electronics manufacturing in India will rise to $300 billion by FY26. From $87 billion in FY22, the total manufacturing of electronics will be at $100 billion.

Out of the total, phone exports have already crossed the $5 billion mark, nearly twice more than the last year’s $2.2 billion. The major push in phone manufacturing has been provided by Samsung and Apple. These two account for half of the phones manufactured in India.

“Early on in 2021, we sat with the industry and worked out this $300 billion roadmap…One of the key things of the target was significantly expanding exports to go from the current $18-20 billion to $120 billion by FY26. This fiscal, mobile phone exports are expected to reach $9 billion,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT, told ET.

He said that all states are required to participate to make India a manufacturing hub.

“Now what has happened is that 66 per cent of foreign direct investment (FDI) in electronics has come in the last three years and almost every state now is competing to attract investments,” he said.

The government in 2020 had launched the Rs 41,000 crore Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphone manufacturing. Tamil Nadu houses Foxconn and Pegatron, two companies that manufacture iPhones. Karnataka has the base for Wistron, another iPhone maker. Uttar Pradesh has the base of Samsung.