Mobile phone exports from India hit $5.5 billion, or about Rs 45,700 crore will August of this financial year, said a report by news agency PTI citing India Cellular and Electronics Association's (ICEA) estimates. iPhone maker Apple exported mobile devices worth more than Rs 23,000 crore, a source was quoted as saying by the report, which is more than half of the total export. India exported mobile phones worth Rs 24,850 crore, or $3 billion between April-August.
ICEA chairperson Pankaj Mohindroo was quoted as saying that mobile phone exports from India continue to buck the overall trend of muted global trade by registering a massive growth of over 80 per cent. "India continues to strive hard to be a preferred location for GVCs. It is work in progress but the trend is positive," Mohindroo said.
The central government has set a target of hitting $300 billion worth of electronics manufacturing by 2025-2026 and $120 billion out of this is expected to come out from exports.
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In a bid to push local manufacturing and value addition, the Indian government has introduced schemes and initiatives such as the Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP), Make in India, Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Atma-Nirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India).
Meanwhile, locally made mobile phone shipments crossed the 2 billion cumulative units mark under the "Make in India" initiative during 2014-2022, registering a 23 per cent CAGR, market research firm Counterpoint Research’s "Made in India" service report said in August. The high number of locally made mobile shipments was driven by huge internal demand, increasing digital literacy and the government's push.
India has also become the second-biggest mobile phone-producing country in the world.
“India has come a long way in mobile phone manufacturing. We have seen local manufacturing increase over the years to meet domestic demand. In 2022, more than 98% of shipments in the overall Indian market were ‘Made in India’, compared to just 19% when the current government took over in 2014. We have also seen increasing local value addition and supply chain development in the country. Local value addition in India currently stands at an average of more than 15%, compared to the low single digits eight years ago," Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint, had said in a statement.