Electronics exports catching up with oil products, shows govt data

India's electronics exports surge on smartphone demand, narrowing the gap with oil shipments to a record low and reshaping the country's export mix

Exports of electronics from India are running those of oil products close, with the gap between the two reducing to a record low of $5.9 billion in 2025-26.

 

Four years ago, it was $73.9 billion.

 

According to an analysis of the latest commerce-ministry data, electronics exports (ranked third among the top 20 commodity exports from India) in FY26 hit a new high, partly owing to a huge push in smartphone shipments to the United States (US) and also because of the fillip from the government’s Electronic Component Manufacturing Scheme.

 

These helped the numbers to hit a record of $48 billion, an increase of 24.3 per cent over the previous financial year.

 

Between April and January 2025-26, smartphone exports to the US grew 138 per cent to hit $15.87 billion.

 

Oil products are second in the pecking order at $53.9 billion, falling 15 per cent over the previous year owing to geopolitics, particularly the crisis in West Asia.

 

When the production-linked incentive (PLI) on smartphones started in FY22, petroleum exports were at $65.4 billion and electronics shipments at less than a fourth at $15.7 billion.

 

In FY23, as the PLI scheme was getting a toehold, petroleum exports jumped nearly 30 per cent to $97.5 billion while electronics exports reached $23.6 billion, leaving a gap of $73.9 billion.

 

This is the highest India has seen in the last five financial years.

 

As the PLI scheme started showing strong results in its third year, the gap reduced to $55 billion.

 

It is in FY25, the fourth year of the scheme, that petroleum exports dropped to $63.3 billion and outbound shipments of electronics grew sharply to $38.6 billion, reducing the gap between the two by more than half.

 

Based on the trend of fall in exports in petroleum products year-on-year, stakeholders in the electronics business have projected that by FY27, it will replace petroleum to become the second-largest item of commodity exports.

 

Cognizant of its possibility that the government is working on a new PLI scheme for smartphones (the first one ended its five-year period in FY26), it is expected to be focused again on exports, but incentives tied to performance on value addition (localisation).

 

The Indian Cellular and Electronics Association, in its presentation, is aiming at achieving 30-35 per cent of the global production of smartphones in India in the next five years compared to 18 per cent currently.

 

It is aiming at exports of $55-70 billion in mobile phones in the same period.