Smartphones emerge as India's export champions in FY26

New Delhi: Smartphones led a 24% surge in India's electronics exports in the last fiscal year as handset makers such as Apple and Samsung made the country a global manufacturing hub, reflecting the success of the government's production linked incentive (PLI) programme for the segment.

Total exports of electronics goods reached $47.96 billion in FY26, from $38.56 billion in the previous fiscal, an official said.

Smartphone exports climbed nearly 22%, led by strong demand from the US, which imported $19.68 billion worth of devices, an 86% jump over FY25, the official said.


Smartphones were joined by printed circuit boards (PCB), telecom equipment components, and personal computers in driving the full-year export performance.

The UAE, China, Singapore, and Hong Kong were the other key export destinations for Made in India electronics items. Emerging destinations such as the Slovak Republic also saw high growth. "This robust upward trajectory highlights the success of the Make in India initiative and the PLI schemes, which have galvanised domestic production and attracted global tech giants to Indian shores," said the official cited above.

Under the PLI scheme for large scale electronics manufacturing and IT hardware 2.0, about Rs 15,554 crore of incentives have been disbursed. A total of 59 companies reported incremental production of about ₹2.45 lakh crore during April-December 2025.

On the product front, outbound shipments of higher-value-added components such as loaded PCBs totalled $1.61 billion in FY26, and those of machines for transmission of voice and data surged 75% to $1.67 billion, telecom equipment parts by 90.5%, and personal computers by 84%. Among emerging product categories, OLED display modules and TWS devices exhibited exceptionally high growth, indicating diversification into advanced and consumer-driven technologies, said the official.