India is now the second-biggest mobile phone-making country: Counterpoint

Led by the Centre's push, higher internal demand and rising digital literacy, India has become the second-biggest mobile maker in the world, a report by global research firm Counterpoint said on Tuesday.

It added that the mobile phone shipments from India crossed the 2 billion cumulative units mark under the "Make in India" initiative during 2014-2022. It registered an annual growth rate of 23 per cent.

Moreover, according to the data shared, in 2022, more than 98 per cent of shipments in the overall Indian market were made in India. This is very high when compared to just 19 per cent in 2014.

"We have also seen increasing local value addition and supply chain development in the country. Local value addition in India currently stands at an average of more than 15 per cent, compared to the low single digits eight years ago," said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint.

Counterpoint also said that Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP), Make in India, Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) and Atma-Nirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) programmes have contributed to an increase in local manufacturing and value addition for smartphones.

"Under the 'Make in India' initiative, the Centre introduced the Phased Manufacturing Program and increased import duties on completely built units and some key components over the years to push local manufacturing and value addition. Under the Self-Reliant India scheme, the government introduced the PLI scheme for 14 sectors, including mobile phone manufacturing. Due to all this, exports from India have increased," said Prachir Singh, senior analyst at Counterpoint.

"Many companies are setting up units in the country for manufacturing mobile phones as well as components, leading to growing investments, increasing jobs and overall ecosystem development. The government now intends to capitalize on its various schemes to make India a 'semiconductor manufacturing and export hub'. Going forward, we may see increasing production, especially for smartphones, as India gears to bridge the urban-rural digital divide and also become a mobile phone exporting powerhouse," Pathak added.