Statsguru: India is one of the world leaders in assembled phones industry

Last week, Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for Railways, communications, electronics and information technology, claimed that 99.2 per cent of all the mobile phones in India are "made in India".

India is one of the world leaders in the assembled mobile phones industry. Between 2014 and 2022, the country’s cumulative mobile phone shipments crossed 2 billion units, making it the second largest mobile phone producer, according to Counterpoint Research.

Under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the share of domestically assembled phones of the total phone shipments (or sales) rose to 98 per cent in 2022 from 19 per cent in 2014 (chart 1).

Mobile phones accounted for 43 per cent of the total electronics produced in 2021-22, shows data from the electronics and IT ministry. Mobile phone import has consequently declined by about 60 per cent between 2017-18 and 2021-22, making India a net exporter (chart 2).  

The import of electronics components has increased between FY19 and FY23. It now exceeds $25 billion (chart 3).

The import of semiconductor chips, a principal component, especially for smartphones, touched a five-year high in FY23 at $16 billion (chart 4). 

About 80 per cent of these chips are imported from five countries, one-third from China alone. Hong Kong makes for 22 per cent and South Korea 14 per cent (chart 5).

The production-linked incentive scheme for large-scale electronics manufacturing has so far attracted cumulative investments of over Rs 6,800 crore and created over 62,000 direct jobs (June 2023 data). Parliament data shows that under the scheme, the industry is inching closer to its FY24 production and export targets (chart 6).