India’s electronics manufacturing industry which was once a import-heavy sector, is now becoming exporter, especially driven by smartphones.
According to government data, domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing has now reached around 18–20%, which basically means more components are being made inside India instead of just assembling imported parts.
If you look at the bigger picture, total electronics production in India has jumped from around ₹1.9 trillion in 2014-15 to nearly ₹12 trillion in 2024-25. This is roughly a six-times increase. Exports have grown even faster, rising 8-times during the same period.
In this growth, mobile phones have participated as front-runners. The government data shows India has gone from importing most of its phones in 2014 to becoming a net exporter today.
Mobile Phone production has surged 28 times, and exports have exploded by over 100 times. In fact, smartphones became India’s top export commodity in 2025, beating traditional sectors like fuel and diamonds. (Source: DGCIS)
Government claims this transformation is largely driven by the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme for Large Scale Electronics Manufacturing (LSEM), launched in 2020 to boost domestic manufacturing.
The scheme has significantly overshot its initial targets across key metrics:
- Investment is at ₹175.19 billion vs target of ₹70 billion (250% achievement)
- Production is at ₹11 trillion vs target of ₹8.12 trillion (136% achievement)
- Exports are at ₹6.20 trillion vs target of ₹4.87 trillion (127% achievement)
However, employment generation stands at around 185,000 direct jobs so far, which is roughly 92% of the stated target.
The numbers show that companies have already invested more than double the original targets, and production and exports have also crossed the target.
India still depends on imports for high-value components. That’s where newer schemes like Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) and PLI for IT hardware come in.
Government aims to manufacture things like PCBs, camera modules, and sub-assemblies under electronics manufacturing.
There’s already strong response from industry, with investment commitments crossing targets significantly, and expansion happening across multiple states.
The government has now increased the budgetary outlay for the ECMS from ₹229.19 billion to ₹400 billion in Budget 2026.
So far, around 75 applications have been approved across 12 states under the ECMS scheme, indicating a good participation from the industry.
These policies will build complete electronics manufacturing ecosystem in India in the coming future.
The details were shared by Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Jitin Prasada, in the Lok Sabha on April 1, 2026.
