NEW DELHI: India expects Apple to widen its manufacturing footprint beyond iPhones, whereas Google could shift a substantial share of its export-oriented device production from China to India, electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.Vaishnaw told reporters that Apple could expand its manufacturing ecosystem in India to other hardware categories, building on the scale it has already created around iPhone production. On Google, he said India could emerge as a major export manufacturing base as the company looks to diversify production away from China.The comments came as the govt notified the Rs 62,500-crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme, which will run from the current financial year to 2020-31 and succeed the earlier production-linked incentive programme for large-scale electronics manufacturing. The scheme is aimed at increasing scale, deepening domestic value addition and supporting Indian mobile phone brands, said Vaishnaw.Under the new framework, companies will be eligible for incentives ranging from 2.25% to 5% on eligible sales. An additional incentive of up to 1.5% will be available for domestic sourcing of specified components, such as display and camera modules, enclosures, batteries and USB cables.
India unveils Rs 62,500-crore mobile manufacturing scheme to boost exports, localisation and domestic smartphone brands
Electronics and IT secretary S Krishnan said the scheme builds on a sharp expansion in India’s mobile manufacturing ecosystem over the past decade. Mobile phone exports grew 166 times between 2014 and 2025, recording a compound annual growth rate of about 59%, while India is now the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer by volume.“Mobile phones have become a central part of India’s electronics manufacturing and export story,” Krishnan said. They accounted for about 61% of the country’s electronics exports last year, up from around 4% in 2014-15, while their share in electronics manufacturing rose to 48% from about 10%.Smartphones also emerged as India’s single-largest exported product category in 2025, according to MeitY.Krishnan said the new scheme is intended to take the sector beyond assembly by increasing scale, improving global competitiveness and deepening the domestic supply chain. The framework also includes a separate track for Indian smartphone brands. Vaishnaw said the govt was working with three Indian companies to develop best-in-segment designs over the next 10-to-14 months, initially focusing on high-volume segments.Indian brands will be eligible for a 5% incentive on eligible sales, along with an additional 3% incentive for Indian design and R&D.Saurabh Agrawal, tax partner at EY India, said the structure could help push localisation further. “By rewarding incremental sales over a moving baseline with added rewards for localisation, the scheme should meaningfully deepen local value addition and strengthen India’s positioning as a global export hub for mobile phones,” he said.