PCB crunch, US tariffs shrink Q1 electronic component exports

India's electronic component exports fell in the June quarter despite an increase in overall electronics shipments, as a worsening shortage of key parts and higher trade barriers hit manufacturers.

First-quarter electronic component exports shrank 16% year-on-year to $1.34 billion, while overall electronic goods exports increased 22.5%, latest data from the commerce department showed. This made electronic components the only category within the broader $22-billion electronics export basket to register a decline.

The country's fledgling components segment has seen exports drop for three consecutive months in FY27, reversing the monthly growth uptrend seen in FY26. The drop comes despite the Centre pushing manufacturers to build upstream domestic capacity.


Officials attributed the decline to multiple supply chain challenges, including struggling production of printed circuit boards (PCB), as well as a steep drop in exports to the US. PCBs, considered the backbone of electronics, provide the physical foundation and electrical pathways that allow delicate components to communicate.

"Its manufacturing has faced challenges in sourcing materials and other inputs due to the war in Iran," an official in the ministry of electronics and information technology said. "The government is monitoring the situation to ensure rising PCB prices don't affect overall electronics prices."

ET had reported last week that the PCB industry was planning to write to the Centre, state government and banks that electronics production in India could fall by 30-40% within three months if the current shortage in key materials and components persists. Prices of copper-clad laminates (CCL), a key input material, have surged by more than 300% in the last 12 months, while prices of other inputs have jumped by up to 200% in six months, according to industry body India Printed Circuit Association (IPCA).

"Import of other specialty chemicals and epoxy resin supplies have also been hit. We are in touch with the commerce department," the official said. A 51% fall in component shipments to the US, India's largest market in this category, also brought down the first-quarter export figures, data showed.

Heavy tariff barriers reduced the US' share in India's electronics component exports to 28% as of June end, down from 50% a year ago. In this category, exports of assembled photovoltaic (PV) cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was the most affected. This was due to the high 50% import duty imposed by the Donald Trump administration last year, as well as the anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations directed against India, officials said.