Smartphones have become the fourth-largest export item from India, experiencing a remarkable 42 percent growth to reach $15.6 billion in the fiscal year 2024 (FY24), according to a Business Standard report.
This surge has allowed smartphones to climb one spot in the export rankings, surpassing motor gasoline. India began tracking smartphone export data separately in April 2022.
Despite the rise of smartphones, petroleum products continue to dominate India’s top exports. The United States is the leading destination for Indian smartphone exports, receiving $5.6 billion worth of shipments, which marks a 158 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase, as reported by the Commerce Department. Following the U.S., the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imported $2.6 billion worth of smartphones from India, followed by the Netherlands ($1.2 billion) and the UK ($1.1 billion).
The total value of mobile devices produced in India for both export and domestic markets in FY24 soared to Rs 4.1 lakh crore ($49.16 billion), marking at least a 17 percent increase YoY, according to preliminary estimates by the Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).
The significant growth in smartphone exports is largely attributed to the Indian government’s successful production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the sector.
This scheme has propelled India to the second position, only behind China, among the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturing countries. The PLI scheme is also a key element of the China-Plus-One strategy, which aims to attract companies manufacturing in China to shift their operations to India amid geopolitical tensions between China and the U.S.
Eligible firms under the PLI scheme include Apple’s vendors—Foxconn, Wistron India (now Tata Electronics), and Pegatron—as well as Samsung. Apple has been a major contributor to this export growth, with the value of its outbound mobile device shipments expected to have surpassed Rs 1.2 trillion ($14.39 billion) in FY24, a 33 percent increase from Rs 90,000 crore in FY23.
Early estimates indicate that exports accounted for nearly 30 percent of the total output value in FY24, up from 25 percent in FY23, according to ICEA data. This growth trajectory highlights the increasing significance of smartphone manufacturing and export in India’s economy.
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