Centre's vision document sees 10x rise in electronics exports by FY26

Will need mobile device players and Apple Inc vendors to meet the target

The government, along with the electronics industry, on Monday came out with a vision document that sets an ambitious target of increasing India’s electronics exports by over 10 time — from $10.6 billion in 2020-21 to $120 billion by 2025-26. This will make electronics amongst the country’s top three export categories from its current rank at Number 7.

India’s dream of becoming a global hub for electronics exports is heavily dependent on the success of one segment — mobile devices. They have to contribute 43 per cent to 48 per cent of the total export target for FY26 if the ambitious plan is to be achieved. In other words, the export of mobile devices needs to jump by nearly 18 times — from $3.1 billion in 2020-21 to $53-58 billion in FY26 to meet the target.

According to estimates, the country’s mobile device exports are projected to hit $15 billion in 2021-22.  

The success also depends on whether Apple Inc’s three vendors can fire and meet their export targets under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. According to their commitments, they will make $44 billion in value of mobile phones in FY26.

About 70 per cent of it going for exports is a staggering $30 billion -- or one-fourth of the total electronics export target for that year. This also represents half of all mobile exports that year.

The three vendors have committed to export 70 per cent ($60 billion) of the Rs 6.5 trillion ($87 billion) export target to be achieved in five years under the PLI scheme for mobile device manufacturers.  

The vision document, released by IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday, was worked out between the ministry of electronics and information technology (MEITY) and India Cellular and Electronics Association. It expects exports to account for over 40 per cent of the target of $300 billion of domestic electronics production in FY26, from $74.7 billion currently.  

The document has also put out a road map for the country to target an electronics production of $1 trillion in the next 10 years, which will include products, sub-assemblies and components. Even here, the reliance is on the mobile device ecosystem, followed by consumer electronics and IT hardware.

IT Secretary Ajay Sawhney pointed out that there were many segments that were in the initial stages of growth and needed to be nurtured. These include telecom equipment, smart meters, drones, and so on. (See chart) 

The report has also looked at some key areas that need action, such as decrease in import duties on components which are not manufactured in India, a stable import tariff and greater access to markets through free trade agreements (FTAs). At present, the government is negotiating seven FTAs.

MEITY also said recognising the demands of stakeholders for increasing the allocation and broadening the scope of the PLI scheme in IT hardware, the matter has been sent to the committee of secretaries for further action.