On February 25, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that smartphones had emerged as India’s leading export category, with overseas shipments expected to reach $30 billion by 2025. The minister referred to India as a “smartphone manufacturing factory for the world” when posting the update on social media.
Official statistics indicates that in FY25, mobile phones worth ₹5.5 lakh crore ($60 billion) were produced domestically, while exports totaled about ₹2 lakh crore. Exports of electronics exceeded ₹4 lakh crore in 2025, and as four semiconductor plants start production this year, they are predicted to increase much more.
Industry leaders credit the increase to Apple Inc.’s plan to diversify its manufacture outside of China and the government’s Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) program. With the help of a supply chain consisting of about 45 businesses, Apple presently runs five iPhone manufacturing units in India: three are operated by the Tata Group and two are run by Foxconn.
With more than 99 percent of its phones being sold domestically, India is currently the second-largest mobile phone producer in the world. Strong domestic demand and the export momentum are complementary; industry forecasts indicate that the iPhone 16 will rank among the top-selling smartphones in the nation in 2025.
Source – ET Now
