Indian mobile phone exports cross US$ 2 bn in Jan and Feb 2023

India’s mobile phone exports have surpassed US$ 2 billion in terms of value during the first two months of 2023, resulting in a total export value of over US$ 9 billion since April 2022, according to a report from the industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).

Smartphone exports for the April 2022-February 2023 period have doubled from the same period a year ago, with India’s smartphone makers exporting around US$ 1 billion per month from September 2022. This was a result of the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. 

According to the report, Apple and Samsung accounted for approximately 90% of total exports since April 2022, with the rest coming from merchants exporting specific handset models to regions with price arbitrage. The iPhone maker’s contract manufacturers — Foxconn Hon Hai, Wistron, and Pegatron — accounted for around 55% while Samsung made up for the remaining 35% of the exports. 

India-made devices are now being shipped to countries such as the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, and Italy, indicating an increase in the maturity of the industry. The contribution of exports to total production is expected to rise from 16% in FY22 to 24% in FY23, according to the report. 

Experts said that India is expected to manufacture around US$ 40 billion worth of smartphones in the current fiscal, up by 20% on-year, of which roughly US$10 billion worth of handsets will be exported.

The domestic value addition is expected to be around 25% by the end of this financial year. The PLI scheme for mobile manufacturing, with an investment of INR 38,000 crore, has been successful, leading the government to launch similar schemes in 14 other sectors, including Information Technology (IT) hardware, telecom equipment, and advanced chemistry cell batteries.

Source: Economic Times