India's electronics exports cross $47 billion in 2025 on iPhone push

The next leg to $55 billion is tied to policy clarity and tariff risks

Electronics exports from India crossed $47 billion (₹4.15 trillion) for the first time in 12 months in 2025, according to figures released by the Department of Commerce. This marks a 37 per cent jump over the $34.93 billion recorded in the previous 12 months in 2024.

 

Nearly two-thirds of the total — around $30 billion — came from production-linked incentive (PLI)-driven smartphone exports, which also hit an all-time high in 2025. In December 2025 alone, electronics exports reached $4.17 billion, representing a 16.8 per cent increase from $3.58 billion in December 2024.

 

Electronics exports crossed the $4 billion mark in seven of the 12 months in 2025.

 

Among India’s top 10 export categories, electronics was the fastest-growing throughout 2025. The sector is now India’s third-largest export, having climbed from seventh place just five years ago.

 

The single largest driver of this surge was smartphones, specifically Apple. The company exported $22 billion worth of iPhones from India in 2025. That alone accounted for 46 per cent of India’s electronics exports and nearly 75 per cent of smartphone exports for the year. It is the highest export figure ever recorded by a single company within a top-ranked Indian export category, made more striking by its place in a global value chain.

 

Beyond smartphones, India’s key electronics exports included photovoltaic cells, routers and networking apparatus, charger adapters, components, sub-assemblies, and printed circuit board assemblies.

 

The government has set an ambitious target of $500 billion in electronics production by 2023-31, with $200 billion expected from exports. The recent export run has been driven by a series of PLI schemes rolled out by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology over the past five years, starting with the smartphone PLI in 2020, followed by the India Semiconductor Mission in 2021, and the information technology hardware PLI in 2023, which is yet to deliver material outcomes.

 

The latest initiative, the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), announced in 2025, carries a total outlay of ₹22,919 crore. It projects ₹1.15 trillion in investment, ₹10.35 trillion in production, and the creation of nearly 142,000 jobs.

 

At the current pace, industry estimates suggest electronics exports could cross $55 billion (around ₹5 trillion) in 2026. However, sustaining this run will hinge on three factors: the extension of the PLI scheme beyond March 2026, which industry is actively lobbying for and which will also shape the success of ECMS; uncertainty around the US tariff regime; and supply-chain stability, particularly rising memory chip prices, expected to climb over 40 per cent globally amid demand from artificial intelligence-driven server infrastructure.