February 7, 2022
The mobile device manufacturing sector will contribute to 13% of total job creation under the PLI schemes.
The textiles and automobile sectors will create close to a fourth of the combined 53% employment opportunities across sectors.
The ICEA forecasts that 100,000 new jobs are to be created by the end of 2022 in the mobile device manufacturing sector.
The manufacturing sector workforce has shrunken from 51 million in 2016-17 to 27.3 million in 2020-21.
The Production Linked Incentives (PLI) announced by the Government of India during the pandemic years is expected to increase employment opportunities to 6 million jobs in five sectors namely white goods, mobile device manufacturing, textiles, automobile and speciality steels, according to media sources. The sectors will contribute to 53% of the employment opportunities in the country, and the mobile device manufacturing sector alone will account for 13% of the proposed jobs. The sector is expected to add 600,000 additional indirect jobs and 200,000 direct jobs through the PLI. Apple has committed to creating 8% of the proposed employment opportunities in the sector and entities such as Pegatron, Foxconn and Wistron have committed to generate 60% of the opportunities. The textiles and automobile sectors, on the other hand, will create a fourth of these employment opportunities with 150,000 additional jobs in total.
The Indian Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) forecasts that a total of 100,000 new jobs will be added to the mobile devices manufacturing sector with rapid progress expected to take shape in H2 of 2022. Employment in the manufacturing sector is seen to have dropped from a 51 million strong workforce in 2016-17 to 27.3 million in 2020-21 prior to the pandemic, giving the Government greater incentive to monitor job creation. However, the PLIs for the sector are not formulated with the view to withdraw benefits for entities should they not meet the employment targets.