US biggest export destination for Indian smartphones in April-May: Govt

India exported $2.43 bn worth of smartphones in April-May this fiscal, driven by a multifold jump in shipments to US which emerged as biggest destination for India-made devices, according to govt data

India exported USD 2.43 billion worth of smartphones in April-May this fiscal, driven by a multifold jump in shipments to the US which emerged as the biggest destination for India-made devices, according to the government data.

The smartphone exports to the US jumped multiple times to USD 812.49 million during the first two months of this fiscal as against USD 92.2 million in April-May 2022-23, the commerce ministry data showed. The US accounted for one-third of the shipments in value terms.

The US was followed by the UAE (USD 484.52 million), the Netherlands (USD 205 million), the UK (USD 151.33 million), Italy (USD 136.57 million), and the Czech Republic (USD 115.5 million).

Overall India's export of smartphones in 2022-23 was worth USD 10.95 billion. During April-May 2023-24, smartphone exports soared by 157.82 per cent over April-May 2022-23.

Prior to 2022-23, the smartphone exports were non-existent so the data was not captured.

After the announcement of the Product Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme and the entry of US-based iPhone maker Apple into domestic manufacturing, India is emerging as a major production hub for smartphones.

For diamonds also, the US is the most dominant market for India with USD 1.3 billion during the two months, though the growth declined by about 23 per cent.

For manufacturing electronic goods for exports and meeting domestic demand, India imported USD 1.85 billion worth of monolithic integrated circuits of which USD 597.89 million came from China.

Other sources of these circuits were Ireland (USD 258 million), Hong Kong (USD 255.45 million), Taiwan (USD 204.38 million) and Singapore (USD 162.35 million). In 2022-23, the total imports of integrated circuits were USD 10.23 billion.