Record phone exports augur well, but challenges remain
EXPORTS of mobile phones from India clocked more than $3.09 billion last month, marking a success for the government’s Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The export figure for May — an increase of 74 per cent over the same month last year — was the second-highest ever. The peak of $3.1 billion was achieved in March when Apple exported more phones to the United States to avoid penal tariffs from April. Even shipments of Android phones have witnessed a strong growth. Smartphone exports rose to $24.14 billion in 2024-25 from $15.57 billion in 2023-24. Electronics is now the fastest-growing export category. Today, 99 per cent of the phones that India consumes are assembled in the country. Much of this scaling up can be attributed to the PLI scheme, but a larger question looms — can India go beyond smartphone assembly?
