'Smartphone PLI plan exceeds targets, value addition quadruples': Industry informs govt

New Delhi: The commerce ministry was curious during inter-ministerial consultations to know what was so special about the smartphone production linked incentive (PLI) scheme that an extension should be given to it, people aware of the matter told ET. Information was sought regarding outcomes of the scheme from the export promotion council and the industry.

The industry told commerce minister Piyush Goyal that the scheme had exceeded all its targets with production more than doubling to $71 billion in FY26 from $30 billion in FY20 and exports rising 10 times to $29.4 billion from $3 billion.

Read more: Consumer loans hit a record in Q1 amid steep rise in electronic goods prices


The domestic value addition has quadrupled to 18-19% in these six years, despite restrictions on investments from countries like China sharing a land border with India. China, according to industry representatives, reached 38% value addition over a 40-year period, which means India developed the ecosystem within a much shorter timeframe.

In its submission to the government, seen by ET, the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) said the smartphone PLI stood out as one of the most successful industrial policy interventions, arguing that it had delivered on all policy objectives intended in the scheme including exports, employment, skill development, technology transfer and ecosystem creation. The association counts Apple, Foxconn, Tata Electronics, Google, Dixon, Flex, Motorola and Corning among its members.

Boosted by the scheme, mobile phones now account for 21% of India's merchandise exports to the US, rising 178% between calendar year 2024 and 2025 to $19.7 billion. India is now the second largest mobile phone manufacturing nation and exporter of smartphones after China.

Read more: El Nino impact in sight even as top FMCG firms bet on rising India consumption


As per the ICEA, the significance of smartphone PLI scheme lies not merely in the outcomes it delivered, but in the policy choices that underpinned them.

"As new interventions and successor frameworks are considered, the experience of the smartphone PLI offers valuable lessons on how manufacturing competitiveness and scale can be built," the ICEA said in its submission.

The industry said the smartphone PLI scheme did not chase multiple and sometimes conflicting policy objectives, ensuring its success.