‘Make In India’ success story: Now the parts of smartphones made in India are also indigenous, value addition reaches above 20%
During the past few years, the electronic manufacturing sector in India has grown at an unprecedented pace. India has emerged as the world’s second largest smartphone manufacturer. Many foreign companies, including Apple and Samsung, are manufacturing their phones in India. India is exporting smartphones worth billions of dollars every year now.
The Modi government’s ‘Make in India’ and PLI (Production Linked Incentive) schemes have played a big role in this success story. However, some economists used to mock these schemes and used to say India is just assembling phones and there is no real manufacturing happening. However, a recent report has given a befitting reply to such critics.
More than 20% of the parts are being manufactured in India
According to a report by Business Standard, more than 20% of the parts used in Apple phones and other electronics products made in India are now being manufactured within the country itself.
This achievement has been made possible by various vendors manufacturing in India who supply parts to Apple. Apple has parts suppliers all over India. These include TDK Corporation, Hon Hai Precision, Tata Electronics, Foxlink and many other companies. They manufacture parts in different states of India, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu.
China, which has been running Apple’s biggest factory for a long time, has only reached 35%-40% local value addition till now. Meanwhile, India has achieved 20% in just 5 years, and this local contribution is growing rapidly. Not only Apple, but Samsung has also been using locally manufactured parts in its phones made in India.
According to the report, 25% of the parts used in Samsung and Dixon phones are also made in India. The government’s target is to take it to 35%-40% in the coming years. This will strengthen Indian industry and reduce dependence on foreign countries for essential parts.
Production of parts locally also increases technical capabilities and helps to continuously reduces costs. India has achieved such success in the automobile manufacturing sector earlier. In the 1980s, Suzuki started assembling cars in India but now 95% of the parts in every Suzuki car manufactured in India are Indian.
India exports smartphones worth ₹2 lakh crore+
India is now the world’s second largest smartphone manufacturer after China. While most of the smartphones sold in the country are now made locally, India is also exporting a huge number of smartphones. In the financial year 2024-25, India exported smartphones worth $ 24 billion (about ₹ 2 lakh crore).
This was 55% growth over the previous year. A large part of these were iPhones manufactured by Apple. Apple had manufactured and exported iPhones worth more than $17 billion (₹1.46 lakh crore) from India in the financial year 2024-25. Apple’s dependence on India has increased even more in recent times.
After the US President imposed tariffs on other countries including China, now only iPhones made in India are being exported to the US. While the US has imposed a 25% tariff on India, the tariff on China is much higher.
Another recent report shows that Apple is exporting 97% of the iPhones made in India to the US. The US President has also put pressure on Apple to manufacture iPhones in the US and not in India. However, Apple has made it clear that it will increase its manufacturing capacity in India in the coming days.
Currently, Taiwanese company Foxconn and Indian company Tata manufacture iPhones in India. Apart from this, Wistron is also entering this field. These companies are currently manufacturing iPhones on a large scale in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
News