Smartphones ring loudest in Indian exports: Shipments' value reaches $18 bn

Smartphones, for the first time, emerged as India’s largest individual export commodity by value over 10 months of any financial year, during the April-January period of FY25, based on harmonised system (HS) codes.

 

During the period under review, smartphone exports from India reached $18.31 billion, according to data from the Department of Commerce, surpassing automotive diesel fuel exports, which stood at $16.04 billion. The surge partly came amid global trade concerns as a tariff war loomed since Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election in November 2024.

 

In the corresponding period of the previous financial year (FY24), smartphones ranked fourth among HS-coded exports, behind automotive diesel fuel, aviation turbine fuel, and diamonds.

 

The ascent of smartphones to the top of the export hierarchy was driven primarily by a significant increase in shipments during April-January FY25, which rose by 54.7 per cent from $11.83 billion in the same period a year earlier. 

 

Industry experts attribute this growth in part to a concerted ramp-up of exports to the US from India in anticipation of possible tariff actions by President Trump. In January 2025, for instance, smartphone exports to the US — led by Apple Inc’s iPhones — soared by 208 per cent year-on-year, reaching $1.63 billion.  This trend was further reflected in the cumulative figures, with smartphone exports from India to the US increasing by over 64 per cent between April and January of FY25, totalling $6.6 billion.

 

It took five years for smartphones to climb to the top of India’s export rankings. Smartphone exports ranked 23rd in FY19, up from 167th in FY14, based on HS codes. In 2020, the government launched the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones, marking a pivotal moment for the sector. By FY22, smartphone exports had jumped to ninth place, trebling to $5.7 billion. Within two years, in FY24, such exports jumped to $15.6 billion, placing smartphones fourth on the leaderboard.

 

By December 2024, smartphones had climbed to second place, and in January 2025, they became India’s largest export category.

 

Smartphone exports are estimated to have reached $24 billion, or ~200,000 crore, in FY25, according to preliminary government estimates — with iPhones accounting for ~1.5 trillion worth of outbound shipments, or two-thirds of the total. A key reason for the change in the export top order has been Apple Inc’s strategic decision to shift production capacity from China to India in 2021, with its vendors participating in the PLI scheme. Apple has since relocated 20 per cent of its global iPhone production to India.

 

In FY25, it made over 40 million iPhones valued at more than $22 billion, with 80 per cent of these earmarked for export. The success of the smartphone PLI initiative has delivered multiple benefits. According to the industry association ICEA, the scheme has generated over 1.3 million jobs, a significant proportion of which are held by women.